South Downs village pub reopens after residents fight to save it

The Sportsman Inn at Amberley has reopened amid a battle by villagers to save the pub

A South Downs village pub which closed at the start of the year has now reopened amid a fight by residents to save it.

The historic Sportsman Inn at the foot of the South Downs in Amberley shut in January but residents were determined to see it reopen and formed a Save Our Sportsman action group – SOS.

And now they’ve done it. They have secured a short-term lease to run the pub while they raise funds to buy it.

The action group, spearheaded by villager Roger Agate, has already received pledges of more than £300,000 and is currently applying for various grants to raise the rest of the money.

A smart new sign has now been put up outside the pub while the old sign now adorns an indoor wall

Meanwhile, volunteers are running the pub 12 hours a day from 10am – 10pm seven days a week. And it’s being well supported with music nights, quiz nights, classic car gatherings – and bird watching sessions from the pub terrace overlooking the Amberley Wildbrooks.

Villager Mike Toynbee said: “All in all, it has got off to a very encouraging start with a lot of support from local residents and is already attracting a growing number of visitors from further afield.

“However, we are not there yet – there is still a long way to go before we have sufficient funds to buy the pub. But we are well on the way and there is a tremendous amount of goodwill.”

Meanwhile major improvements are being made to the pub’s restaurant which will not reopen until next spring when the works should be finished. However, hungry punters are being kept happy with quality street food being sold on Friday and Saturday evenings from the pub’s car park.

And it is planned to open five B&B rooms at the pub from May 24.

The Sportsman, which has been an ale and public house since the 1850s, shut on New Year’s Eve when the then tenants’ lease expired and the freeholders decided to sell up.

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But the Save Our Sportsman action group successfully had the pub declared an ‘Asset of Community Value’ before its closure.

Roger Agate, whose grandfather ran the village shop in Amberley for more than 30 years, said that research had then been carried out into its viability with encouraging results for how the reopened pub could be run for the benefit of the community.