A village pub that has been closed for almost four years is set to reopen after being bought by a Yarnfield resident who was involved in efforts to save it.
The Labour in Vain has been bought by parish councillor David Beeston, with refurbishment work now taking place ahead of plans to find a tenant to run the pub.
The sale was completed in August and is not connected with Yarnfield and Cold Meece Parish Council.
The parish council joined forces with villagers three years ago in a bid to secure the pub for the community, and The Labour in Vain was subsequently listed as an Asset of Community Value by Stafford Borough Council.
Mr Beeston, who was involved in that campaign, has now told residents on social media that the pub is under new ownership.
Work is taking place inside the building ahead of its reopening, although those efforts suffered a setback last week following a break-in.
Mr Beeston said:
“We have beefed it up to stop people getting in and there is nothing in there of any value.
“Support in the village has been really good though. I have had people offering to help with cleaning and preparing it, and a lot of help from friends and villagers.
“There have been a lot of positive comments online. We will open it as soon as we possibly can, but we have a lot to do before we can.”
The ambition is to find a tenant who can take on the day-to-day running of the venue.
Mr Beeston said:
“Our ambition is to find a tenant who is willing to see our vision of what we want and make sure it is run properly.
“The idea is to open around 9am to offer breakfast and coffee, and run through to the bar service in the afternoon and evening. We want to make it a café come bar but it will remain a pub.
“We have been using the pub for over 30 years as we live in the village. We didn’t want to see it go down the route we thought it would go down.
“We’re not publicans, but we didn’t want to see the pub disappear out of the village. Hopefully we will get it back thriving and open to everybody.”
In July 2023, Stafford Borough Council granted planning permission for three homes to be built on the pub’s car park.
The proposals prompted concerns that the loss of parking could threaten the future of the venue, which is Yarnfield’s only pub. That planning permission has now lapsed.
Hundreds of people signed a petition to save The Labour in Vain in 2023. The pub has been part of the village for more than 170 years.
At the time, parish councillors said they would be willing to work with any buyer planning to reopen it as a pub.
Councillor Kirsty Treen said in 2023:
“I moved the day before lockdown and one of the reasons we moved here was because there was a local pub, somewhere to go. When it reopened we went.
“I had my baby shower there and we have always tried to support it.”
