Community buys pub and plans Sussex-only beer sales

The chairman of a community group which bought a pub to save it from closure says they want it to be "a place where people are always welcome" - and plan to only sell Sussex-brewed beer.

Residents in Amberley raised £750,000 to buy The Sportsman in Rackham Road, after its former owner put the building up for sale.

The pub will now be run by community members, and plans to sell exclusively local beers from October onwards.

Roger Agate, chairman of Community Sportsman Amberley, told BBC Radio Sussex: "I want this to be a pub like I remember when I started drinking in the 1970s and 1980s."

He added: "I don't think buying the pub has settled in yet. It has been a battle.

"It's a fair achievement. Being in the South East, the market price was a lot higher."

Money to buy the pub, which dates back to 1850, was found through the sale of shares in the new company, which raised £340,000, and money loaned by residents.

The group had hoped to fund much of the cost through the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government's Community Ownership Fund in 2024, but the scheme was closed in January 2025 under Keir Starmer's government.

Prior to the sale being completed in August, the company had been leasing and running the pub as a community benefit society, a not-for-profit organisation.

Amberley resident Ros Simpson, who has lived in the village for over 30 years, said: "I couldn't be more delighted.

"We have known the pub since we came here and our kids were small. The thought of it not being here would be disastrous."

The deal to buy the pub comes amid the backdrop of many establishments closing their doors.

Figures from the British Beer and Pub Association showed pubs closing at a rate of two per day in the first quarter of 2026.

Follow BBC Sussex on Facebook, X, and on Instagram and listen to BBC Radio Sussex on Sounds. Send your story ideas to southeasttoday@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp us on 08081 002250.