CAMRA film trilogy shines spotlight on community owned pubs
CAMRA has released the second film in its community owned pub documentary series, this time focusing on the Travellers Rest in Skeeby, North Yorkshire.
The Travellers Rest was bought by volunteers and the Skeeby Community Pub Society in 2022, and after raising nearly £300,000, the pub opened its doors for the first time since 2008.
The latest film shows what it is like to campaign and save a pub, plus how to open and maintain a pub under community ownership with eye-opening interviews from the pub’s key volunteers, staff and passionate locals. Documenting the local community's efforts to save the pub, the second episode highlights how the pub cultivated friendships, especially with its popular Leek Club vegetable competition.
Director Katie Greenhalf and Producer Rachel Auty, in collaboration with Plunkett UK, have made an emotional and humorous documentary on how important community owned pubs are in tackling loneliness and isolation in UK communities.
The second film on Travellers Rest is available to watch here.
The first film in this series, starring Tottenham's Antwerp Arms, is available to watch on our Learn and Discover platform, while the third film in the series, featuring Yr Heliwr in Wales, will be released on Friday 5 December.
Gary Timmins, CAMRA’s Pub and Club Campaigns Director said:
“This film series highlights how important pubs are to the well-being of our communities. If it wasn’t for the amazing volunteers who campaigned so hard to save the Traveller’s Rest, it may have been lost forever, robbing people of an important social hub.
“Community owned pubs show the difference we can all make when we come together. I hope audiences watching are inspired by the success of Travellers Rest and look into the option of community ownership to save their own local from demolition or conversion.
“The Government must re-introduce a dedicated funding pot, so community groups can get the help to save their beloved closed locals.”
Rachel Auty, Cameron Rae Consultancy Ltd and Women On Tap CIC added:
"I loved meeting the committees, teams and locals at each of the three community pubs. It's been a real honour. Hearing their stories and learning more about their communities has been brilliant.
“I've always believed that pubs are an essential part of society, and now more than ever we need these local places of togetherness and belonging. These films reflect that.”
End
Notes to editors
The Travellers Rest film is here.
The first film is here.
The third instalment is released Friday 5 December.
Photos of the Travellers Rest are here.
Excerpts from the film in reel form are here.
Photos of Rachel and Katie filming the series are here.
CAMRA has guides and resources about saving your local pub, including community ownership, here.
Find out more about community pubs here.
The three pubs featured in the series are:
Traveller’s Rest, Skeeby, North Yorkshire
Darlington’s first community pub reopened in 2023 after being shut and derelict for 15 years. 250 locals banded together to form the Skeeby Community Pub Society and raised £320,000 to save and repair the pub. This welcoming pub hosts local sport teams such as darts and quoits plus bingo on Mondays.
Antwerp Arms, Tottenham, London
Tottenham’s longest established working pub, serving the local community since 1822. This Georgian era building was threatened with demolition by developers and risked being turned into flats before it was saved by 300 members of its local community and CAMRA campaigners to become North London’s first community owned pub, reopening in 2015. This year, the pub has celebrated a decade of community ownership, winning multiple local CAMRA Pub of the Year awards.
Yr Heliwr, Nefyn, Wales
After being closed for many years, a community benefit society raised enough money to buy the freehold in 2018. The pub was restored by volunteers and reopened in 2021. In 2024 the pub opened an outdoor events space to help improve health and wellbeing, tackle loneliness and give the opportunity for locals to learn new skills.
About Learn and Discover
Learn and Discover is CAMRA’s award-winning educational platform, home to a large library of guides, articles, videos and audio material from esteemed writers, educators and industry experts.
About Plunkett UK
Plunkett UK is a charity which supports people in rural areas to set up and run a wide range of businesses, including pubs, in community ownership. Plunkett UK represents over 800 trading community-owned businesses and a further 800 in the process of setting up, from shops and pubs through to woodlands, farms and fisheries.
About the film makers:
Rachel Auty, Cameron Rae Consultancy Ltd and Women On Tap CIC
Rachel is a marketing and communications consultant, an award-winning beer writer, and a CAMRA member. She is the founder of Women On Tap CIC, former Head of Marketing at Brew York, and serves as a director on the board of the British Guild of Beer Writers.
Katie Greenhalf, filmmaker, editor and creative producer
Katie Greenhalf is the founder of her own production company This Film, which specialises in character-led storytelling that highlights the richness of real people, places and communities.
