Community Fundraising Campaign

Save Our Pub
Blackawton

Our beloved village pub, The George Inn, needs you. Help us keep the pub going for another 500 years!

Save Our Pub Blackawton campaign logo
The George Inn Story
🏠

Community Ownership

We're purchasing the pub as a Community Benefit Society — meaning every donor gets a real stake and a vote in its future.

🍻

Over 500 Years of History

The George Inn has served our village since the 1500s, playing host to generations of community festivities.

🌿

Sustainable Future

With community ownership, profits stay local and can be reinvested into the pub and the community.

📅

Fundraising Events

From racing pigs to dancing your shoes off, stay up-to-date with all our upcoming events. All funds raised will go towards the return of The George Inn.

🔒

Asset Lock

A community asset lock will be placed on The George Inn to ensure it stays within community hands for generations to come.

Upcoming Events

Join us at one of our fundraising events and help save The George Inn.

Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Sun

📅 Upcoming Events

Latest News

Stay up to date with the campaign to save The George Inn. Got a tip or story? Drop us an email.

The George Inn, Blackawton
Campaign Update

🎉 Parish Council Support

We’d like to say a heartfelt thank you to Blackawton Parish Council for awarding a grant of £580 to help us establish a Community Benefit Society (CBS).

📅 8 June 2026 Nic Crane

This funding will be used to purchase one year’s worth of support from Plunkett UK, enabling us to benefit from their extensive knowledge and experience as we establish our CBS.

This is a really important milestone for the Save Our Pub Blackawton campaign and an exciting step forward for our community effort to secure the The George Inn's future. It brings us closer to the next stages of the project, including opening a bank account and, in time, launching a public fundraising campaign.

We’re incredibly grateful for the support and encouragement as we continue this journey together.

More Stories

Campaign Update 📅 8 June 2026 Nic Crane

👋 Website launches — hello, world!

We're delighted to launch the official Save Our Pub Blackawton website. This is your one-stop hub for campaign news, upcoming events, and everything you need to know about getting involved.

The site has been built by volunteers and will be updated regularly as the campaign progresses. You'll find information about our structure as a Community Benefit Society, a full calendar of fundraising events, and answers to the most common questions we receive.

We'll be adding a share offer page in due course, once negotiations with the freeholders have concluded and we have firm numbers to share. In the meantime, the best thing you can do is spread the word — share this site with anyone who loves The George Inn.

Follow us on Facebook and drop us an email if you have news, questions, or want to volunteer. We're all in this together.

Community Update 📅 19 May 2026 Nic Crane

Taking The First Steps

Thank you so much to everyone who has shown their enthusiasm and support for our campaign to save our village pub! 🍻

We now have a dedicated core team in place, backed by a growing number of volunteers who have kindly offered their support as this project develops. 💛

We are excited to report that we have engaged the Plunkett Foundation to support us as we move forward. The Plunkett Foundation is a charity that supports rural communities to set up and run community owned businesses. 🌱

Once we have a clearer picture of our next steps, we will be in contact with everyone who has kindly volunteered to get involved. 🗣️

We look forward to sharing further updates as soon as we can!

The George's Story

The George Inn isn't just a pub — it's the living room of our village. Here's why we're fighting to keep it.

Historic photo of The George Inn, Blackawtom

For over 500 years, this pub has been more than a building. It is the social heart of the village, housing warm conversation on cold nights, a gateway to the wonderful Blackawton community, and a thread connecting generations of villagers and visitors alike.

Now, after surviving 2 fires, 2 world wars, and half a millennium of change, The George Inn faces a new challenge. And this time, its future depends on all of us.

First opening its doors in the 1500s as The Church House Inn, the original pub building was destroyed by a fire in the early 1800s. After being rebuilt in the 1820s during the reign of King George IV, our pub took on the name it still holds today: The George Inn.

In 1939, the pub was once again struck by fire, losing its roof. Not long after, during the Second World War, the village of Blackawton was evacuated, becoming home to American forces who were training locally for the D-Day landings. Throughout this extraordinary chapter, The George Inn remained at the centre of village life— lifting spirits and serving as a vital social hub.

The George Inn is worth saving, not just for its history, but for its future as a living, breathing community space (and because we miss the bloody good parties!).

With your help, we can keep The George Inn open for the next 500 years.

Milestones

500+ Years Serving
40 Wormcharming Festivals
22 Monarchs

Frequently Asked Questions

Everything you need to know about investing in your local. Can't find your answer? Drop us an email.

A Community Benefit Society (CBS) is a legal structure designed to run businesses for the benefit of the wider community, not just its members or shareholders. Registered with the Financial Conduct Authority, our CBS will have an asset lock — meaning the pub can never be sold for private profit. Think of it as a co-op with an unbreakable commitment to the village.
Plunkett UK is a national charity which supports people in rural areas to set up and run a wide range of businesses in community ownership. They have a huge amount of knowledge with regards to community pubs and are being many of the UK's success stories. We will be working closely with them to ensure the success of our project.
The discussions are ongoing with the current freeholders, we will update the community as soon as we have a more definitive answer.
This hasn't been decided yet, but the current considerations are that we could own the freehold and sell the leasehold to a tenant, or we could employ a manager and run the pub as a village. We're currently working on a feasibility study to decide the best option.
We are working hard to pull a lot of things together, a feasibility study, business plan, valuation, establishing the CBS, setting the rules and developing a project timeline. We don't have a definitive timeframe at this stage but we will keep everyone updated through the Beacon, Facebook and this website.