Rishi joined villagers to celebrate the re-opening of a village pub after a 15-year closure.
The Travellers Rest community pub at Skeeby, near Richmond, finally opened its doors on Friday after a long campaign to purchase and refurbish the building.
Rishi was among 250 people who bought shares in the venture run by the Skeeby Community Pub Society (SCPS).
He called at the pub to congratulate the society on the successful conclusion of their campaign which began in 2008 when the pub closed and the building was bought by a developer who announced a plan to convert it to a house.
The society reached agreement with the building’s owner to purchase and refurbish the pub after a long period when the developer tried unsuccessfully to obtain planning permission for the conversion.
The society had the Travellers Rest registered as an Asset of Community Value to protect it from re-development and then raised £300,000 from the share offer and grants to fund the purchase and refurbishment.
Rishi was among the first shareholders to see the result of the pub society’s labours to revive the pub.
He said: “This is an amazing example of a community which fought long and hard to bring the heart of the village back to life and I have been very happy to support from the time I first became the MP for this area.
“The refurbishment is superb and Skeeby now has a pub to be proud of once more and I am sure it will continue to bring the village together.”
Carol Wilkinson, the society’s chair, said the renovated pub aimed to provide a warm and welcoming environment with easy chairs, a log burning stove and bespoke hand-crafted bar with cask ales from local brewers.
She added: “It’s been a long journey and many people involved waited 15 years for this day. It has been a privilege to lead the team and the support of our MP as we put our bid together has been very much appreciated. We were delighted he could come and see how the finished project has turned out.”
A new garden room opens onto a deck overlooking the south-facing beer garden, flower beds and quoits pitches.
Mrs Wilkinson said plans were in handed to create additional parking for the pub. She was however gratified that the opening event, attended by hundreds of people, had not created a problem in the village.
The pub will be open from noon to 11pm daily. Initially the pub will only be serving hot and cold drinks and snacks, however the society said a menu was being finalised for home cooked meals using locally-sourced ingredients.
