Community rally round Skelmersdale pub to stop it closing

The Prince William Inn on Beacon Lane  was measured up for boarding up with 15 members of staff set to lose their jobs on Sunday, March 1.

At the eleventh hour however, local residents held a public meeting and around 60 people turned out in order to stop Skelmersdale losing another pub.

Local resident, Sam, 45, who is his daughter’s main carer, spearheaded the campaign to keep the pub open after moving to the area in July of last year.

Sam said: “We viewed the house then the  pub! We wanted a local where our daughter who has additional needs  could visit with support workers and feel safe. Hence we bought the  house and ended up spearheading a campaign to keep the pub open!”

At the meeting, it was asked if the pub  could stay open until the summer months when business was likely to pick up. The meeting proved successful as the pub’s brewery, Robinsons brewery in Stockport, agreed to keep the pub trading for another six months to see how it goes.

Robinsons Joint Managing Director,  William Robinson, said: “At Robinsons we have a policy to support our community and traditional pubs. However, as many other brewers have  found some of our pubs have struggled to remain viable businesses in recent years for both the licensee and the brewery.

“Reluctantly, we had taken the decision  to close the Prince William in Dalton at the end of this week, however the community have engaged with us in a positive and co-operative  manner, the result of which is that we have deferred the closure for six months, to see if the pub can be brought back to a sustainable trading  level and saved from closure.”

Manager of the Prince William pub, Dave Roy, said: “We are over the moon. Staff are made up to have a reprieve and we’ll carry on to give the same fabulous service.

“We’ve been really busy since the announcement of the closure and so many people have said ‘the pub is so lovely, it can’t close.’ It does really well in the summer months so we’re going to see if we can turn things around.”

A number of prominent pubs in and around Skelmersdale have closed in the last few years. The Horseshoe Inn  on Liverpool Road closed in February 2017 and the building has remained empty ever since. Developers planned to knock it down to make way for  housing but their efforts were thwarted by the council’s planning  department. The Railway Tavern and the Beacon at Dalton have also shut  down.

Sam said: “We need to engage the  community. In ten days we’ve made a difference to the decision and just  hope we can get more people behind it too.

“I’m thankful that the brewery are giving us six months to make a positive change.”

The locals are hoping to have family fun days at the pub and car boot sales in the car park in the future.

Sam said: “If anyone wants to hold a group there from dominos to darts knitting to book clubs we are open to any suggestions how the pub can work with the community. Would love to be able to get Age UK involved and get people who are lonely there to meet up for a meal.”

The pub is available for many different functions and has a Mothering Sunday Luncheon coming up on Sunday March 22. It regularly holds open mic and quiz nights with many more types of  events to come up in the future.