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About us

The Forester has served the communities of Donhead St Andrew and Donhead St Mary and the surrounding areas for well over 400 years.

Built in the middle of the 17th century from beautiful green sandstone possibly salvaged from Old Wardour Castle, the Forester, formerly known as the New Inn has stood as the beating heart and soul of village life ever since.

Under previous owners, the pub had been a highly successful destination pub renowned for its excellent food, resulting in the award of a Michelin Bib Gourmand. As part of a retirement plan the previous owners sold the pub to a small New Forest based chain, Country Inns in 2022.

The Country Inns formula, well-honed in the New Forest, has simply not worked in Donhead St Andrew and the pub was put up for sale in 2024 and closed in early 2025

Since when in July 2025, the current owners applied for permission to Wiltshire Council to convert the pub into a residence.

There have been over 250 objections to this application.

We are determined the application will be refused and the community will buy and operate the pub under community ownership.

The Forester will live on as it should, a pub and thriving community hub.

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Our plan for The Forester

2024

What's happened so far?

2025

August 9, 2024 - the current owners, Country Inns, placed the pub on the open market.

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January

  • The pub ceased trading

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July

  • Country Inns applied for planning permission to convert the pub into a residence with a decision expected by Nov 19th but was then delayed to December 5th

  • A groundswell of opinion developed throughout the community, determined that the pub should not be converted into a residence

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September

  • Aware of the strong pubic feeling, Donhead St Andrew Parish council made an application to Wiltshire Council for the pub to be designated an Asset of Community value

  • September - Parish Council Chairman Simon Barkham formed a small Management Committee to manage the project to ‘Save the Forester’

  • The Management Committee created a structure to manage the project, allocated accountabilities for different workstreams and got to work

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October

The community responded in large numbers with over 250 objections to the application

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November

  • The ‘soon-to-be-formed’ Community Benefit Society objected to the permission in a seven-page document proving that the application fell well short of meeting the criteria for conversion to a residence.

  • A Public Meeting was held on November 15 to explain progress to date and plans for the future. Over 130 people attended including our local MP John Glenn, our Ward Councillor Gerry Murray and our local Radio station.

  • The Asset of Community Value was granted, a major step in the right direction

  • Continuous effort to engage and galvanise the community behind the project

  • Forming the Community Benefit Society, advised by the Plunkett Foundation.

  • Analysing historical financial information for the pub

  • Understanding the likely total cost of the project, including the capital cost of the pub, refurbishment/building works, garden works, tax, professional fees, stamp duty and many other costs.

  • Learning from the numerous websites of other community owned businesses

  • Creating a brief and building a CBS Forester website and social media

  • Early-stage thoughts about how to raise funds

  • We also brought in professional hospitality expertise into the management team

Plans for late 2025 and early 2026
We are now working hard in 5 critical areas:
 

Community Benefit Society

We will be working with the Plunkett Foundation in order to complete our application to create the CBS. This involves writing the lengthy and quite complex ‘rules’ for the CBS. The CBS which will be the legal entity owning the property under community ownership. The CBS will then lease the property to a tenant licensee.

 

Vision

We have an outline Vision for the pub, but this needs much work. We will be visiting other CBS owned pubs, talking to CBS members and learning about how to create a successful community owned pub that fulfils the needs and wants of the community. 

 

Business Plan

We will be working with hospitality professionals, CAMRA and others to put some numbers to the vision. We have some historical information which is useful, but now need to quantify the Sales, Margin and Overheads costs under community ownership.

We will open a bank account and appoint professional advisers including a lawyer and accountant.       

 

How much money do we need to raise?

We will obtain estimates for the refurbishment of the buildings internally and externally, outline costs of fixtures/fittings and the costs of redesigning some areas. Along with working capital, stamp duty, professional fees and other costs it is likely we will need to raise around £800k.

 

Fund Raising

The Big One...

In December everyone on the mailing list (c.300 email addresses) will receive a request to indicate how much they would be prepared to invest. This will be without any obligation or commitment but will give the Management team an indication of how much our community is prepared to invest. 

We will work hard to find any available grants and seek charitable donations.

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