We decided to help with the media coverage for a great local initiative – the Save the Packhorse Campaign. And it’s been great fun.
The Packhorse pub in South Stoke closed in 2012 and was destined to be developed into flats.
But now after years of hard work the campaign team have successfully saved the beautiful 17th century pub and drinks are flowing again for the first time in six years.
The decision to close and be redeveloped both enraged and motivated the villagers. They decided to roll up their sleeves and raise the necessary money to save their 400-year-old local watering hole.
Eventually over £1million was raised and in the biggest community buy-back the country has seen, the Packhorse was bought, renovated, restored and reopened.
To maximise coverage, we researched and curated some unique angles – our favourite being the octogenarian who, in recognition of being born in the pub, received the honour of both cutting the opening ribbon and pouring the first round of drinks.
The historic day kicked off with a great preview in The Observer – along with extensive TV and radio coverage from the local BBC station. Then things got very busy!
In the run up to the reopening we worked closely with a local news agency, providing them with embargoed interviews, archive videos and images. On the launch day their stream of updates were snapped up by Fleet Street news desks – within 24 hours the Daily Mail, the Mirror, the Metro, Yahoo! News, the Sun, the Times, the Telegraph, The Independent, Gizmodo, Unilad, Good Housekeeping and MSN had all covered the story.
For some, the story was too good to leave alone – the Mail, Metro and Guardian decided to run follow ups.
Unsurprisingly the news was popular with local titles –we had success in the Bath Chronicle, Bath Echo, The Bath Magazine, Bristol Post and Somerset Live.
The Packhorse even had a mention on Chris Evans’ Radio Two show – leading to a rush for lunches at the pub.
We’ve now learnt that the story has become international – appearing in titles in Spain, Germany, Russia, Hungary, Austria, Uruguay, Bolivia, Mexico, The Czech Republic, France and China.
And now the Packhorse is back in the media spotlight – this time in a CBS feature on closing pubs.
Stay tuned for more coverage to be added.
In the meantime, it’s cheers from us…
