A COUPLE have bought a Kendal pub to save it from an uncertain future.

Chris and Su Duxbury have purchased the Castle Inn which campaigners have been fighting to rescue from developers - as highlighted in The Westmorland Gazette.

The pub was on sale from Heineken’s leased pub business,Star Pubs & Bars for £180,000.

Mr and Mrs Duxbury were attracted by the low price of the inn and were looking for a permanent home for themselves.

Mrs Duxbury already runs the Ring O’Bells in Kendal which the couple have rented for 10 years.

The pair have strong roots in the area.

Both attended Kendal College in the 80s and Mr Duxbury’s father George Duxbury was town crier from the early 70s until 1994.

“The Castle Inn will be our forever home, we have no desire to change it, develop it or anything, it just needs cleaning,” said Mrs Duxbury

Kendal group CIKOFF (Castle Inn Kendal, Open For the Future) had applied for the pub to be registered as an Asset of Community Value (ACV).

As of March 23 the Castle Inn was granted ACV status and will be listed on the council’s register.

“The ACV won’t make much difference as we don’t wish to change it from a pub and we never want to sell it,” said Mrs Duxbury.

Mr Duxbury said he had contacted CIKOFF to inform them the Castle Inn would be kept as a pub.

“We’ve had a lot of support so far, people want to know when we’ll be opening,” he said.

The opening of the pub has been postponed due to government rules ordering non essential retailers and venues to close to limit the spread of coronavirus - with the UK now on effective lockdown.

“We wanted to open in three weeks, the postponement will at least give us more time,” he said.

“We’d be worried if in two months there wasn’t a light at the end of the tunnel.

“If we had to wait until next year it would be disappointing but we’d live.”

A spokesman for CIKOFF said: "We really hope they pick up the gauntlet and run a great pub for us.”