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LONDON (AFP) - Regulars at a 15th century British pub said they had bought their drinking hole to save it from being converted into houses.


AFP/File Photo



A group of 21 customers raised 425,000 pounds (617,000 euros, 800,000 dollars) to buy the Swan Inn pub in Cheshire, northwest England, after landlord Ian Edmondson announced he planned to turn it into residential property.


"We were upset when we heard he wanted to close the pub because it is a viable business and we didn't want to lose our local," said Matthew Barnes, who helped to organise the purchase in the village of Kettleshulme.


"It is only a small village and the pub is the key feature where people can come together to chat and exchange stories," Barnes said, noting that the community had already lost its post office.


The pub was closed last October but the locals' offer was accepted earlier this year and it is due to re-open in March.