On Friday David Morris MP met with a team of volunteers at the New Inn in Yealand so they could share their plans for a community pub. The steering committee members were able to show David around the pub as it has been left empty now for 18 months and share with him the plans for the future.
David Morris MP was supportive of the scheme and said the pub was ‘a beautiful old building and it’s something that we have to preserve for future generations, not only for the community in the immediate time.”
David Morris MP talked to Members of the Committee who discussed their application to the new fund which was announced this week to help such projects called the More than a Pub: The Community Pub Business Support Programme.
Speaking after meeting with the Team David Morris MP said:
‘It was especially impressive the amount of support from the community that the group have already received. They already have 168 investors and 86% of these are from Yealland and its surrounding villages. I am fully supportive of the aims of the group and I have today tabled an EDM supporting the re-opening of the New Inn as a community pub’
‘I will also be speaking with the pubs Minister Marcus Jones MP to ensure he is fully up to date with the scheme in Yealand and to make sure that the group’s application to the More than a pub fund is fully assessed.
‘The More than a pub fund is worth 3.62 million and will be split across 80 community pubs in the country, and I would love to see part of that fund be added to the local investment to allow the group to purchase the pub from Robinsons Brewery and re-open it for generations to come to enjoy. So often in rural areas the pub is the hub of the community and I look forward to drinking the first pint when then group open the pub again.’