AFTER a four-year campaign Karen Lynch and her pub task force are standing down, having secured the future of Lindford’s only pub - The Royal Exchange.

Not only has the pub, in Liphook Road, been saved from demolition, but it is undergoing a £850,000 refurbishment by Farnham pub company Red Mist Leisure.

When it opens in November, it is hoped the pub will provide 20 new jobs.

Ms Lynch’s campaign began in 2011, when she attended an East Hampshire forum meeting and learned that the pub was threatened with closure.

“No one seemed to be doing much about it,” she said. “We were about to lose something that not only adds character to the village, but is a vital asset for the social life of Lindford.”

Although working full time as a civil servant and looking after her daughter, Ms Lynch set in motion her Save Our Pub campaign by calling a public meeting, chaired by parish and East Hampshire district councillor Yvonne Parker-Smith.

Many villagers supported her and Ms Lynch set up her Pub Task Force team, chaired by Neil Mullett and with Michael O’Donovan as treasurer, to save the Edwardian pub that had sat at the crossroads of the B3002 and Headley Road since the early 1900s.

Ms Lynch said: “Because of my work commitments I didn’t want to be on the committee, but I got marvellous help from East Hampshire District Council community officer Liz Panton and council leader Ferris Cowper. As a result, I got a £1,500 grant to help start the campaign.”

It was to be a four-year battle, with the pub changing landlords, closing down and the submission of applications which planned to demolish the building for housing development.

But a meeting, in November 2011, had helped to turn the tide as Ms Lynch had invited Red Mist managing director Mark Robson to give a talk to villagers.

“We had more than 60 people and he was so pleased at the support he got,” she recalled. “He gave advice and assistance on the best way for us to proceed in trying to save the pub.

“I think the genuine feeling he experienced, that the village wanted to keep its pub, made up his mind to buy The Royal Exchange.”

Red Mist has a reputation for creating upmarket pubs, such as The Wheatsheaf in Farnham and The Duke of Cambridge in Tilford.

On its website, Red Mist, at the Coxbridge Business Park, states: “We’re passionate about real pubs and take great pleasure in seeing a dying pub returned to life with some much-needed TLC.

“The Royal Exchange is a prime example of a village pub with a very limited life expectancy due to lack of investment and care.

“That’s where we come in. We are working with teams of people to turn this pub around ready to reveal a fantastic new venue for eating, drinking and relaxing in November 2015, when we will be opening the doors to the local community and general public after nearly a year of closure.”

Ms Lynch said the decor, service and food would be of a high standard and the prices reasonable.

She added: “I hope, when the ‘green town’ is built, the pub will attract more customers from Bordon and Whitehill. After all this struggle, it is essential people use it.”

Now with pub’s future safe, Ms Lynch said: I didn’t do it alone - it was a team effort and the Task Force can now officially stand down.”

Deputy chairman of Lindford Parish Council’s planning committee Barry Parker-Smith said: “The whole council is extremely pleased at the way things have turned out. The co-operation between Red Mist and ourselves has been top notch and things now seem to be going to plan.

“From the beginning, we didn’t just want the whole site to go for development and it has turned out just right as it is. We now have a marvellous resource for the village, plus four new houses and that is a bonus.”

The refurbishment of what it described as “a dilapidated pub”, is Red Mist’s biggest venture to date and to recoup some of the £850,000 cost part of the pub garden has been sold for the small development of four houses.

Mr Robson said: “It’s been a long road and none of this would have been possible without the positive support from the villagers of Lindford, who demonstrated from the start that they wanted to keep a pub in the heart of the village that they could all love, frequent and be proud of.

“We look forward to continuing to work closely with villagers to ensure that The Royal Exchange is everything we all want it to be.”