Heritage railway buys its volunteers' favourite pub

A pub which closed suddenly two years ago has reopened after a nearby heritage railway bought it.

The Royal Oak in Haworth has long been popular with visitors to the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway and other Bronte Country attractions.

It was a popular meeting place for enthusiasts who volunteer on the line, and they have now taken over its running.

Sam MacDougall, one of the volunteers, said: "We were all dismayed when it closed so suddenly. Ever since our railway reopened in 1968, The Royal Oak was a favourite watering hole."

Under its previous ownership, the pub's snug was decorated with railway memorabilia and photographs, and the reopened Royal Oak will have a railway-themed downstairs bar.

MacDougall added: "We see our railway as part of Haworth and the wider Worth Valley community, so reopening The Royal Oak as a community pub is a way of giving something back to the village, without whose support we would not be here."

The pub was once tied to Websters Brewery of Halifax and passed into private hands before shutting in 2024.

Volunteers behind the takeover said the building has always been "more than a pub" for the railway community.

The upper floor, which was formerly used as living accommodation, has now become office space for the railway.

The line, which runs between Keighley and Oxenhope, closed as a main route in 1962, before it was taken over by a preservation society in 1968.

"Haworth village and the railway have really missed it, so this is a really exciting project.

"It does mean an awful lot."

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