Saving the Hop Pole Inn
How we played a small part in resurrecting a historic village pub.

When the villagers of Limpley Stoke, near Bath, UK, set out to rescue their local disused pub and bring it back to life, Corston was happy to help them create a welcoming space at the heart of the community.

With the project nearing completion, we dropped by to capture the transformation – and the reflections of some of those at the helm – on camera.

Watch the video above or read on for the highlights. 

‘A village is just a collection of houses. A community is where people come together, and this was the last pub in the village…’– Simon Coombe

The Hop Pole Inn in Limpley Stoke dates back to the 1500s and was still in use as a pub as recently as 2018. After its sale that year, the villagers waited to see what would happen next. The answer, sadly, was nothing.

The impressive building stood empty for the next four years before plans were submitted to turn it into residential housing.

‘If that had happened, we would’ve lost the hub of this community forevermore,’ explains Simon Coombe, chair of the Hop Pole Inn management team. ‘For something which has been at the heart of the village for 500 years, it felt wrong to lose it on our watch.’

Saving it, however, was no mean feat. ‘We were given 28 days to find £360,000,’ he remembers. ‘We weren't convinced we could do it, but over 500 people put their hands in their pockets, and we raised the money. We took ownership in February 2022.’

It may have only been closed for four years, but a lot of damage had been done in that time.

'Taking ownership was both the best day of our lives and the worst,’ Simon tells us, ‘because we bought a building that was falling apart, and it was at that point we realised the work had only just begun.’

A volunteer army set to the task. ‘Without the volunteers, we wouldn’t be sat here today in the building,’ acknowledges Tim Tuckey, another member of the pub’s management team.

‘They’ve contributed tens of thousands of pounds of their time in labour and everyone has come together to do their bit because we all want our community hub back.’

One of those volunteers was interior designer Leah Chisnall. ‘I became involved shortly after I'd moved here. I didn't know many people, so I started getting involved on the gardening side of things as a great way to meet people.

‘I then started talking about my business and my skill set and offering any help I could, so that's how I got involved as an interior designer.’

Leah took inspiration for the pub from its setting among rolling hills down by the River Avon in Wiltshire.

‘We're in a really beautiful spot in the south-west here with lots of greenery,’ she explains, ‘and it's also a very calm, quiet area, so keeping the design quiet, organic and natural was important.’

As part of the renovation process, Corston donated various architectural details to help get the project over the line.

‘There was a lot of work that had to be done on the structural side of things,’ explains Leah, ‘so by the time we came to decorating the budget was close to non-existent. The donation from Corston of lighting and ironmongery was incredible and has made all the difference.

‘Both Hannah, the new tenant, and I had Corston in mind from the start,’ Leah continues. ‘The style of the fittings has just the right amount of traditional and contemporary, which works perfectly in the pub.

‘We chose the bronze finish because it has an element of warmth; it has that traditional character to it. It also works perfectly with the rest of the colour palette.’

The last word, as with the first, should go to Simon. ‘Thinking about my hopes for the future of the Hop Pole, one has already been realised.

‘We felt this project was really important to give us a place for the community to come together, but we'd never fully appreciated how bonding the journey of getting here would be.’