Details of next public meeting to provide an update on the efforts to potentially save The Salmon Inn at East Ord, near Berwick

It will take place on Wednesday, January 10 in East Ord Village Hall from 7.30pm. An update will be provided.

This follows the well-attended meeting hosted by Ord Parish Council at the same venue on December 6, where some of the attendees agreed to join a working group to look into obtaining a valuation for the property and preparing a newsletter/leaflet to be delivered to every house within the parish to update residents and encourage further support.

They also agreed to look to see what funding sources/grants are potentially available to help purchase the pub and get it up and running.

The December 6 meeting was arranged after a planning application by Punch Partnerships seeking change of use permission to convert the property into three apartments – with a further four homes proposed in its grounds to the rear – was rejected by six votes to three by a Northumberland County Council committee in October.

The company said the pub had been on the market since May 2022, but there had been a lack of serious offers to retain the building as a pub since then.

Coun Guy Renner-Thompson was among those who voted to refuse the application, saying: “It is for sale for £500,000 – plus VAT that will be £600,000. It’s never going to be viable at that price.

“If the price was dropped it could work. Maybe in the future it could be made into houses, but I think it’s still a bit too soon.”