The Black Lion, Skelton-on-Ure: Yorkshire village locals uncover ‘sunken beer garden’ on site during historic pub refurbishment and set up community cafe as part of revival

A community-owned village pub has reopened and the volunteers who have worked on its renovation have opened a community cafe.

The Black Lion pub in Skelton-on-Ure has existed for 200 years and was originally owned by Newby Hall before it was sold in the 1970s.

Over the years it has been passed to different breweries including Marston’s, Jennings and Admiral Taverns, who bought it in November 2019 then closed it down and boarded it up.

A community group came together to save the historic pub and created a community benefit society where people could buy shares; they raised £242,000 in shares as a result and received additional funding from the Community Ownership Fund as part of the government’s levelling up agenda.

The villagers bought the pub in March 2024 and fully renovated the building from the ground up, including the site around it.

During this process they retained some of its historic features and uncovered a sunken beer garden which they are currently refurbishing.

“It was an absolute mess inside because the flat roof had been leaking, it had been empty for four years,” Michael Ramshaw, who is on the committee, said.

“It needed a complete refurbishment including rewiring, a new flat roof, new plastering, new plumbing, new heating, pretty much everything.

“When it was first built, it was a brick construction with really nice features like sandstone coloured brickworks around the windows.

“At some point someone decided to paint it bright white and it didn’t really look very good, especially after years of neglect.

“We’ve taken the paint off and retained the brickwork so that you can see how it used to look. It looks a lot nicer now.

“The original flooring in the bar was a mess, so we sanded that back and gave it a new lease of life.

“We didn’t know this, but 30 or 40 years ago there was a sunken beer garden on the site. As the sign was so overgrown, we didn’t know.

“We’re revamping that but keeping it in place.

“We found a message from 1981 behind the wallpaper upstairs and it said: ‘pint of beer 49p’, ‘a packet of cigarettes 98p’ those kinds of things.”

A community cafe is open at the pub which runs on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 10am to 2am.

“We have been running a community cafe since December last year, which has been really popular,” Mr Ramshaw said.

“People in the village run it for free, baking all the cakes, making all the lunches. We’re still doing the landscaping at the back and that’s been a pretty massive project as well.

“It’s busy with not only people from the village but we get a lot of people from outside of the village as well who have seen it on Facebook, used to come into the pub or shareholders from further afield.

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“We get people from Ripon, Boroughbridge, passersby going into Newby, we get people from Harrogate.

“When Tractor Fest was on at Newby, we did a pop-up pub and it was packed because we had a load of people coming from Tractor Fest who were camping.

“There was no seating available on both sides of the bar area and the restaurant. It shows you what the potential is and what it could be like moving forward.”

There are a lot of features that will be implemented on site.

“There will be an event space to host weddings, birthdays, marquees, beer festivals, community events [and so on],” Mr Ramshaw said.

“Just beyond that we will be putting in a wildlife area which is going to include a pond, a 15-metre-long log wall which was used from some of the trees that weren’t very healthy that were cut down. It’s almost like a wildlife haven. At the back of the pond, we’re looking to put bee hives in as well.

“We’re trying to make it all accessible; we put down specialist gravel called hoggin for wheelchairs.

“I think everyone is absolutely amazed at what has been done in 15 months; everything is brand new inside in terms of the refurb.

“Everyone loves the decor as well, so it’s all very positive. It’s a real community effort and I think people really appreciate that.”

Mr Ramshaw is now looking for a tenant to take over the pub.

“We’re looking for someone who has experience within the pub or restaurant trade but someone who can live the community values and someone who will integrate within the community,” he said.

“Someone who will build a thriving pub and restaurant, who is energetic, forward-thinking, customer and community-focused.

“Someone who can bring the community on board, organise events for them, maybe look at different [entertainment] teams, with lots of ideas.”