Ralph Fiennes backs Bell Inn bid

A community campaign to buy the Bell Inn at Middleton in Suffolk has raised £380,000 towards a £550,000 target, with the actor Ralph Fiennes and the Blackadder actress Helen Atkinson-Wood backing the bid to bring the grade II-listed pub into community ownership.

The 17th-century thatched pub was put up for sale earlier this year by the Southwold brewery Adnams for £425,000. Residents formed a charitable Community Benefit Society to lead the buyout and hope to raise enough to purchase the pub outright.

Thirty residents have bought shares so far, and many plan to make charitable donations, which will benefit from tax relief.

Adnams, best known for its Southwold bitter, has previously enlisted advisers to explore options for raising funds as it sought to secure its financial position.

The Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) says 101 community buyout campaigns are currently active, and puts the number of community-owned pubs in the UK at 237.

Paul Ainsworth, Camra’s national planning and policy advisor, expects the government’s Community Right to Buy Fund, a £61 million package announced by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government in June, to spur further buyouts.

“I think it will revitalise the whole community ownership scene because money is the root of all these schemes … like the one in Suffolk, £500,000 is not small change so raising that amount of money yourself is quite a challenge,” he said.

Ainsworth said community ownership was “gathering momentum”, adding that “wherever you are in the country you’re not that far from a community-owned pub these days and they’re always very happy to help each other”.

“Community owned pubs have invariably been very successful and there have only been very few instances of these pubs failing,” he said. “It is not surprising as people in the community, more often than not, have a direct or indirect stake in the business as it’s their pub.”

He said community schemes avoided some of the financial pressures faced by tied tenants. “The community buys the freeholds of the pub and that means they aren’t facing the problems that a lot of pub company tenants face where a pub company tenant jacks up the rent and squeezes them dry and rewards their success by trying to get more money out of them.”

“It’s much more manageable from a financial point of view, they’re more in control,” he added.

Gillian Stacey, who is leading the campaign, called the Bell “the focal point of the community” and said it survived the pandemic lockdowns by offering takeaway pints.

“You drive through picturesque villages in Suffolk and when pubs are on the market they become derelict very quickly as this one would do,” she said.

Separate analysis of government data by the property tax firm Ryan found 366 pubs in England and Wales were demolished or converted to other uses in 2025, an average of one permanent closure a day.

Fiennes, who owns a home close to Dunwich Heath, said: “The Bell at Middleton has kept its integrity as a village pub, I mean it has atmosphere, simple, convivial, traditional, friendly. No frills or trying too hard. You feel at home the moment you walk in. And most important it feels ‘Suffolk’.”

“Adnams’ pubs were often synonymous with this quality,” he added. “Post Adnams’ ownership, I hope the Bell finds new management that keeps its spirit intact.”

Atkinson-Wood said: “We need to keep pubs open at the heart of our communities as places to go for a drink and a packet of crisps.”

She said pressure to offer a “gastropub experience” made it harder for traditional drink-first pubs to survive, and that closures in rural villages leave few remaining social spaces.

“Hospitality is a very expensive business and that’s all reflected in going out and eating in pubs,” she added. “That’s why it’s really important to keep pubs where you don’t need to have an oyster banquet when you eat in an East Anglian pub.”

Stacey said that without reaching the target, “many villagers, particularly the more elderly, will be socially isolated”. Upcoming fundraisers include an auction with lots including an etching course, a drive in a Maserati, a lambing day and a day in a Southwold beach hut.

Fiennes said: “Pubs like the Bell are a true expression of their neighbourhood, and I think the best of any country is in the spirit of its neighbourhoods and villages.”

Jamie Young

Jamie Young is Senior Reporter at Business Matters, covering SME finance, employment law and Westminster policy since 2016. He has reported on every Budget and Autumn Statement since 2018, helped make sense of the ‘covid era’ and the bounce-back loan scheme from launch through the fraud investigations, and broke the magazine’s coverage of the 2024 late-payment reforms. He joined Business Matters straight from completing his BA in Administration from Exeter University and is NCTJ-qualified. Reach him at jyoung@cbmeg.co.uk