A community group aiming to purchase and save a 500-year-old pub made famous on TV has won the backing of one of Britain’s biggest media personalities.

Piers Morgan paid a visit to the Swan on the Green in West Peckham, near Tonbridge, last week while out dining with friends.

The famously outspoken tabloid editor turned TV broadcaster spoke with various regulars and patrons, including a member of the Swan Community Project trying to keep the boozer open.

Piers was then asked if he would help spread the word of the share launch, which starts today (September 12) from 7.30pm and aims to raise enough funds for the community to purchase the pub – a request he was all too happy to back.

Adam Freeman, manager of the boozer, said: “He was really nice and amicable. He came round and spoke to everybody in the pub.

“He was a pleasant chap and very happy to talk and I expected that from him.

“He is a man who has opinions, and these opinions will be liked by some and not so much by others.

“But you can’t argue with the man that has interviewed the most powerful man in the world and the most famous footballer.”

A picture of the former Good Morning Britain presenter taken during his visit on September 5 has been doing the rounds on social media ahead of today’s share launch.

Since the start of last year owner Gordon Milligan has been looking to sell the pub, ending his 23-year tenure.

To save the 16th-Century building from development he offered the opportunity to purchase the pub to villagers who have since formed a steering group to co-ordinate a bid to buy it.

In November 2023, the group known as the Swan Community Project started taking pledges from people wishing to help invest in the cause.

Though the purchase fee was undisclosed, the figure pledged to the campaign soon raised to £300,000 by January this year with each participant paying a minimum of £250.

Now nine months on, the share launch has officially opened allowing those who have offered their financial support to begin making good on their promises.

Chairman of the steering group, Ray King, said: “As a group, we have been working on this for about 15 months now and we are now ready to push on with our plans.”

However, the process hasn’t been without delays.

He continued: “These things take time and in January we agreed on a price but it slowed when applying for the Community Ownership Fund.

“We were initially rejected and so we reapplied and as we submitted our second attempt Mr Sunak decided to call a General Election so it was put on hold.

“But we didn’t want to sit on our hands any longer so we wanted to launch the shares offer as we now think we have enough to go for it albeit with slightly downscaled plans.

“West Peckham is a small cul-de-sac village with a community green, and the village pub is our epicentre.

“If we are to lose it us and the surrounding villages will suffer.”

The opportunity will only be available for a few weeks as the share offer is set to close in early October.

As part of the group’s efforts they also successfully bid for West Kent Rural Grant Scheme where they were awarded just less than £25,000 in March.

The pub has also gained TV fame as it was used as the setting for the “Hare and the Hound” in the ITV comedy-drama The Larkins.

The comedy series, the latest spin-off of HE Bates’ novel The Darling Buds of May, starred Bradley Walsh as Pop Larkin and Joanna Scanlan, of The Thick Of It fame, as Ma.