Refurbishment of former Porton Hotel well underway

Keith Hartland set up a community consortium to buy the Porton Hotel from Enterprise Inns in January to save the pub in the village.

"Refurbishment is still ongoing with a view to the opening on or around 17th May," said Keith.

"The plus is that it’ll be community owned and run with the objective of trying to restore some community spirit after the most difficult of years."

'Do you want to buy a pub?'

The idea of bidding for the pub was sparked after seeing a for sale sign go up but Keith says family and friends he spoke to thought he was actually joking about buying it.

"I saw a sign go up to say it was up for sale and saw a development opportunity, which made me think they were going to knock the pub down.

"I spoke with my wife and brother-in-law and a couple of friends about it who all thought I was joking when I sent them a message over Christmas - 'do you want to buy a pub?'," he explains.

Keith, who works in financial services, put together a plan to buy it and crunched the numbers to see if it could be a viable business.

"We were the winning bidder after a bit of a challenge. There were seven bidders."

The former Porton Hotel which is currently being refurbished

Restoration

Restoration work is currently taking place and the name has been changed to The Old Railway Hotel as a nod to its previous name during the Victorian era, The Porton Railway Hotel.

As part of the refurbishment more hotel rooms are being added.

A barn on the site also had to be demolished for safety reasons.

The revamped venue will provide a place for nearby workers to enjoy lunch as well as coffee and cake mornings for older residents and offering a family friendly place to go to.

Saving the pub

Saving the pub was a big part of the decision to buy it, says Keith, who admits it will be an "adventure".

"The driver really was to save the pub for the community.

"People just want a community hub and pubs always were the centre of a community.

"It was trying to do our bit for the area."

The former Porton Hotel which is currently being refurbished

Building's history

During the refurbishment Keith has discovered more about the building's historic past - including a fire in June 1921 after the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918/19.

He said: "The irony of it burning down in June 1921 after a pandemic and 100 years later nearly after a pandemic it has been refurbished."

Looking ahead to reopening

Keith says the response so far has been "overwhelming" and people are excited to get the pub back.

He added: "There is a lot of excitement locally not just in the villages but also from Salisbury and further afield of what's going on."

The former Porton Hotel which is currently being refurbished

"We're excited about the opening," continued Keith.

"We all want it to be right so people walk in and go 'this is different to how it was'.

"One key is getting people there the other is keeping them there.

"We proud of it and engaged in it."

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