“A great community effort”- Puzzle Hall Inn campaigners awarded CAMRA’s Pub Saving Award

The Puzzle Hall Inn Community Pub Ltd, a not-for-profit Community Benefit Society were presented CAMRA’s Pub Saving Award after raising £172,860 for the Puzzle Hall Inn, Sowerby Bridge, West Yorkshire.

The pub, a 17th century building, is located between the canal and the river in Sowerby Bridge, once contained a brewery which had since been turned into accommodation for the local area.

The money raised by the community helped the group buy and refurbishing the watering hole.

The crowdfunding initially launched back in 2017 received donations from Big Society Capital, More Than a Pub Fund, The Plunkett Foundation, Calderdale and The Key Fund. With their support, an offer was made on the Puzzle Hall Inn the following year.

After an extensive refurbishment, December 2019 saw the reopening of the pub, which a judge from CAMRA described as “a great community effort to literally save both a local and regional presentation”.

Sam Irvine, a member of Puzzle Hall Community Pub Limited said: “It is a real honour to be recognised in CAMRA’s Pub Saving Award. Obviously when we took on this project in 2017, we were in a very different situation to the one we face today with COVID restrictions. My hope is that we’ll be able to reopen the pub as soon as possible so that it can continue to serve as an intrinsic hub to the local community.”

Co-ordinator of the Pub Saving Award Paul Ainsworth said: “Congratulations to the Puzzle Hall Community Pub Ltd, a fantastic example of what can be achieved when community groups come together to support their local.”

"The judges were impressed with all aspects of the group's campaign to save the pub - how it put its plans together, how it engaged with the local community, how it achieved publicity and how it raised the funds. As one judge said 'A great community effort to literally save both a local and regional institution."