Transformed derelict pub wins Best Turnaround award

Between four and five pubs are closing in Cumbria every week but one near Kendal is bucking the trend.

It's found new ways of funding itself and attracting customers and now it's won a CAMRA award for best turnaround pub in the North West.

A year ago the Wheatsheaf in Brigsteer, near Kendal, was derelict. Locals wanted it back.

Now Nicki Higgs and her fiancé Tom have taken it over and it's thriving. They couldn't have done it without refurbishing by a larger company but now they run it as a local pub.

The locals wanted somewhere to have a drink after events at the village hall and had thought about running it as a community pub but they're much happier now that someone else has put it back into use.

Tony Harrison didn't know anyone when he moved to Brigsteer but now he's made friends at his local.

Pubs benefit the South Lakes economy by £48.6 million a year. In the Westmorland and Lonsdale area there are nine breweries and 133 pubs, which directly employ over 1747 people and 824 indirectly.

Yet between four and five pubs are closing in the North West every week. This pub has had to reinvent itself to survive.

Now they're trying to attract tourists too. Realising pubs need to offer accommodation as well as food to survive, they've found a gap in the market: a luxury bunkhouse.

The Lumley Fee Bunkhouse takes the concept of a cheap hostel but it's in an old church school and has been decorated to a high standard. Rooms cost £100 and can sleep four.

On the edge of the Lake District National Park, selling Brigsteer takes something more quirky. Getting their third award in a year should help too.