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Community aims to reopen centuries-old village pub

Charlie Stubbsin Nesscliffe
News imageCharlie Stubbs/BBC There is a woman with brown shoulder length hair, and a fringe. She is wearing brown-tinted sunglasses and two hoop earrings. She has a white sleeveless vest. Behind her is the closed down pub and all of the windows have been covered by blinds.Charlie Stubbs/BBC
Nicky Evans said she would go to the Old Three Pigeons when she was in the Young Farmers Club

People in a Shropshire village are fighting to reopen their pub, after the company that owned it went into liquidation.

The Old Three Pigeons, in Nesscliffe, stopped pouring pints in February 2026, which locals say got rid of a valuable, well-used space.

Since then, the group Friends of the Three Pigeons has had the building designated as a community asset by the local council, meaning it can only be used as a pub for the next five years.

Steve Primarolo, from the group, said Nesscliffe as a village had been "bereft" since it closed.

Primarolo, who also runs the village hall, said he was welcomed by the pub's community when he moved to the area, five years ago.

"They've lost a pub, they've lost an asset that they all came to," he said.

"You could rock up at any time, not knowing who you'd meet and could have a pint or a chat.

"That's been taken away, [the] nexus of the community."

The pub, located between Shrewsbury and Oswestry, had served the surrounding villages since 1407 and, legend has it, famous Shropshire highwayman Sir Humphrey Kynaston regularly dined there.

The friends group said developers were interested in reopening the space but admitted it would need to be "commercially viable" for them.

News imageCharlie Stubbs/BBC There is a man in a teal chequered shirt, with the top two buttons undone, and a white T-shirt below. To his left is a pub with a white cobbled wall and overgrown trees. The window to the pub has its blinds closed.Charlie Stubbs/BBC
Steve Primarolo is part of the group trying to reopen the Old Three Pigeons

Former parish councillor Adrian Kuipers has lived in the village for 45 years and has seen the community evolve.

He said the pub was vital for the area as it gave many young people their first jobs.

"There is not a teenager around here [that] hasn't worked at the Three Pigeons at some point," Kuipers said.

"It teaches them to turn up for work and to be nice to customers and that's a gift which stays with them for life."

Nicky Evans also lives in the village and went to the pub frequently when she was in the Young Farmers Club.

"I haven't seen who I would normally see on a twice weekly basis [since it closed]," Evans said.

"It's things like, we can't even imagine a Christmas without the Pigeons. Christmas Eve was absolutely legendary there.

"It's one of the few pubs I've been in where you can be talking to an 18-year-old on your left and an 85-year-old on your right."

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