By Lotte Brundle

A historic village pub saved from redevelopment through a community buy-out could now reopen within weeks.

The Chequer Inn Ash Society have announced via the local branch of the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) that a 10-year lease with a new tenant has been secured.

News of the breakthrough was announced on Facebook this week.

The new landlord is set to be Nick Turner Brown, who lives locally and also holds the tenancy of pubs The Fitzwalter Arms in Goodnestone and The Griffin's Head in Chillenden.

In a statement on the Deal, Dover, Sandwich & District Camra Facebook page, The Chequer Inn Ash Society said: "We are feeling very positive about the future and achieving a sound working relationship with Nick and his team.

"Nick has a strong 'community' ethos to his business model, and we are delighted that he is keen to keep hosting 'Meet Up Mondays'.

"We are confident he will be responsive to other community initiatives."

The Chequer Inn has something of a chequered history.

It was bought with the help of almost 300 shareholders after residents successfully fought a planning application to convert the 15th century building into a house.

The pub had closed in 2014 - 340 years after it first opened - but campaigners managed to have it registered as an ‘asset of community value’.

A Save the Chequer Inn campaign was launched and almost £400,000 raised by the community, and through grants and loans to buy and refurbish the pub.

But a year after reopening with new tenants in 2019, the pandemic hit, lockdown was imposed and the business suffered.

It did reopen once more but the subsequent Omicron variant caused numerous bookings to be cancelled, from which business never recovered and it closed again in January.

Mathematics student Ella Beggs, 22, has lived in Ash with her family for eight years and frequently visited the pub.

She said: "It will be nice to have two pubs open in the village again.

"Even though summer's coming to the end I'm looking forward to making use of the fantastic pub garden with friends and family before winter sets in."