Scarborough’s Cask Inn is set to close later this month despite a campaign for community ownership of the pub.
Despite customers’ efforts to bring the local pub into community ownership to “safeguard” the much-loved venue, The Cask Inn on Cambridge Terrace is set to cease trading on Sunday, 18 May.
The property’s owners, who were part of Heineken UK, had originally put the property on the market with an asking price of around £350,000 but the sale had been put on hold following its listing as a community asset by North Yorkshire Council last February.
The community ownership campaign had received support from the Plunkett Foundation which supports “people in rural areas to set up and run successful businesses in community ownership” and a bid had been prepared for the Government’s Community Ownership Fund (COF).
“As you can imagine, given the efforts of ourselves and our team as well as our amazing community, this is a sad day,” a statement from the pub said.
“The new owners, EMCE LTD Building Services Scarborough, will be taking possession on the 20th.
“We had hoped to be coming back as tenants, but unfortunately our plans to continue building a community pub celebrating local music does not sit with plans they have for the building.”
EMCE Ltd has been contacted for a comment by the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
Andrea Allison, who co-runs the Cask Inn, said she had “taken on The Spa Pub on Victoria Road and we are planning to continue to build our community there”.
“We will be continuing with the events we do at The Cask, including hosting the Jazz Club on a Wednesday and once we are fully in The Spa, we are hoping to continue serving our delicious food, so please come and support us in our new venue.
“It is always the people that make the pub, not the location.”
The Cask Inn has been a public House since the 1970s and caters for locals, holiday makers and has been the home of Scarborough Jazz Club for more than 17 years.
It is “widely acclaimed as a top venue for artists both from the UK and abroad,” its listing on the Asset of Community Value register states.
In a post on social media, the pub added: “Please come and help us celebrate the last two weeks in our wonderful pub and help make our goodbye memorable, plus we need to drink the pub dry!”