November 26th 2023.
The legend of Mabel Mudge has been invoked in the effort to bring the Drewe Arms into a new era. After the pub shuttered around a year and a half ago, the residents of Devonshire launched a Crowdfunding campaign to save it.
Mabel Mudge, the pub's best-known character, is said to hold the record as Britain’s longest-serving landlord. A teetotaller, she navigated black-outs, recessions, World War Two and personal tragedies at the ‘exceptional’ Drewe Arms. This beloved landmark holds a trading history dating back to at least 1756.
The campaign to save the rural pub on the fringes of Dartmoor was a success. Imogen Clements, who is on the steering group behind the campaign, said: “We’re absolutely thrilled and truly overwhelmed by the level of support we’ve received, it shows how important pubs like this are”. The main online campaign ended with the appeal and direct investments combined raising £552,875, enough to cover the purchase and begin work to open it as a community pub in the spring.
Donations came from all corners of the UK and beyond, showing the importance of preserving the Drewe Arms for the community. When it reopens, the plan is to get the taps flowing once more, as well as establishing a café, social hub and community kitchen with a ‘meals on wheels’ service.
Stonegate, the pub’s owners and the UK’s biggest pub company, have already accepted an offer for the purchase, but it is yet to be finalised. The community group says that the future will provide a less onerous management model than those involving landlords tied to pubcos and breweries.
Foremost in the memories that have been invoked by donors and fundraisers is that of Mabel and her husband Ernest, who took on the then Druid Arms in 1919. Mabel retired at the age of 99, after which the villagers ran the pub for nearly a year under an agreement with the then owners, Whitbread.
Mabel, known affectionately as ‘Auntie Mabel’, is thought to still hold the record as the country’s longest-running landlord. CAMRA has also said she was England’s oldest licensee at the time she retired from the Drewe. She once said: “I can’t say I ever smoked much either: course, in my young days the girls didn’t have much smokes anyway.”
The locals plan to restore the Drewe Arms to its place in village life. The pub's idiosyncrasies - such as drinks being ordered through a little hatch - should remain intact. Donations are still being accepted on another page to help the pub reach its £600,000 target.
It's clear that Mabel's legacy stands to be continued by locals rallying behind the campaign to maintain the Drewe Arms. A spokesperson for Stonegate Pub Partners said: ‘We have accepted the community group’s offer to purchase The Drewe Arms in Devon, and we are currently working together with the group to get the sale finalised.’
The locals of Devonshire have come together to ensure that the Drewe Arms will remain a part of their community for many more years to come. It has been an amazing effort from all involved and it shows how powerful community spirit can be.
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