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Grade II listed pub to reopen after five years

Shivani Chaudhari & Lois Worrow
BBC News, Essex
Roxwell Chequers Community Benefit Society Sam Davies has long brown hair and is wearing a black blouse, standing next to David Wheeler, who is also holding a flute glass. They are both smiling inside, with a bricked fireplace behind them.Roxwell Chequers Community Benefit Society
New tenants Sam Davies and David Wheeler used to run a pub in Loughton, also in Essex

A Grade II listed village pub is due to reopen its doors with new tenants after a two-year long campaign to save the historical landmark.

The Chequers in Roxwell near Chelmsford is about 300 years old but was forced to shut its doors in 2020 after the long-standing owners retired.

It was under threat of permanent closure but more than £600,000 was raised by local people to buy it.

New tenant Sam Davies said she and business partner David Wheeler felt "so lucky" to be opening the doors on 28 June.

Roxwell Chequers Community Benefit Society A group of nine people in summer shirts and dresses smiling outside The Chequers pub in the evening sunshine.Roxwell Chequers Community Benefit Society
Local residents now own a stake in the pub's future

The fundraising by the Roxwell Chequers Community Benefit Society (RCCBS) earned the venture a national "pub saving award" from the Campaign for Real Ale.

The fundraising included a £276,000 grant from the government's Community Ownership Fund.

The new tenants have run five pubs together in the past, including the Foresters Arms in Loughton where the pair met.

"We fell in love, what a pub. We made our decision and the rest is history," said Ms Davies.

The duo have plans to keep the old-fashioned pub events alive such as karaoke, Christmas grotto and curry nights.

RCCBS management committee member Emma Drakeford said: "After everything the community has achieved to get us here — from forming RCCBS, to raising the funds, to restoring the building — we can't wait to see The Chequers thriving once again."

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