A group of pub regulars trying to save the Rising Sun in Bradford on Avon have been offered help and advice from a community group in nearby Limpley Stoke.

Simon Coombe, chair of the Limpley Stoke Community Benefit Society, says he is willing to help the Rising Sun regulars to save their pub for continuing use by its local community.

Mr Coombe said: “We can definitely give them the benefit of our advice if they need it.”

Mr Coombe leads a group of enthusiasts who raised more than £300,000 in just four weeks through a share offer to buy the historic Grade 11-listed Hop Pole pub in Limpley Stoke from The Wellington Pub Company after it was placed on the open market.

They have just been awarded £300,000 from the government’s Community Ownership Fund run by the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to help reopen the pub by 2024.

The 19th century Rising Sun on the Winsley Road at Bradford on Avon is ‘wet led’ and only sells alcohol and soft drinks. It attracts most of its trade from the local community.

The pub was placed on the open market by its owner, The Wellington Pub Company, with a price tag of £330,000 and “potential for alternative use” after a prospective tenant pulled out of a deal to manage it.

Over the past few weeks, the pub was being run by Pauline Fortune, who was given notice to quit the flat above the popular local. The pub closed at the end of November and she has now left.

Carey Chapman, who helped organise a petition signed by more than 140 people, welcomed Mr Coombe’s offer, saying he has already spoken to him on the telephone.

“I have spoken to Simon at length and would like to thank him for his offer of help. The expertise that his Limpley Stoke group can bring is very helpful.

“We are really at a bit of a stalemate because the pub was offered for sale on the open market before we could get it listed as a building of community interest.

“We are keeping our fingers crossed that someone will come forward to buy it and to run it as a pub.”

More than 155 people have also signed an online petition launched by Helen Webb to stop the pub – known locally as “The Riser” – from being shut.

She said: “This is one of the surviving local pubs in Bradford on Avon, it has successfully run a constant profit at all times but The Wellington Pub Company have decided to shut the pub at the end of November.

“As you all know not only is this a fantastic pub with a brilliant atmosphere it is also a hub for locals young and old who will have nowhere else to go. 

“The pub is solvent and perfectly able to succeed on wet sales alone, it makes no sense to close.”

Mr Chapman says that although the Rising Sun has closed they are taking comfort from local politicians saying they will object to the premises being converted into residential accommodation.

Bradford on Avon’s mayor, Cllr Katie Vigar, and Wiltshire councillor, Tim Trimble, both say they would object to any planning application submitted by a new owner to change of the pub’s use to residential.

Commercial agent Sidney Phillips is inviting offers for the Rising Sun on a new ‘free-of-tie’ lease agreement of up to 20 years, off a guide rent of £22,000. If you are interested, call 01460 259100, or email  wessex@sidneyphillips.co.uk

To sign Helen Webb’s online petition, click here.