THE shutters are down on a village pub that had recovered from the ravages of Storm Desmond – just 17 months after it reopened.

The Stag Inn at Crosby-on-Eden closed its doors after New Year’s Eve and has been put up for sale by owners Margaret Graham and Ron Brand for £260,000.

When Storm Desmond hit Cumbria in December 2015, the pub was one of a number of properties in the village which was submerged with murky flood water, along with the village school and a number of homes.

At the time it had been on the market for about two years and usage had been steadily declining.

Devoted drinkers in the village, on the edge of Carlisle, formed a community group to save their local from permanent closure.

An ambitious fundraising effort was launched in a bid to raise in the region of £150,000 to buy the pub from Marston’s Brewery.

Peter Milnes, who at the time was chairman of the Crosby-on-Eden Community Association and the pub’s landlord between 1999 and 2006, said the group had “come to an agreement” on a price and had begun the purchasing process in the hope of turning the pub’s fortunes around.

As well as potentially losing a village service, residents were concerned the building could have been sold off for a housing development.

To give the group time to prepare their bid they made a successful application to Carlisle City Council to temporarily halt any sale proceedings, giving the community time.

They invited interested people to come forward and make donations and buy shares or memberships to raise the necessary cash.

However the bid was unsuccessful and, after it had stood empty for a year, Margaret Watson and Ron Brand bought the pub and made the move from Wisbech in Norfolk.

Margaret had grown up in the village and said at the time that it was important for her home village to keep its pub.

“It is a villagers’ pub and it looks like a public house,” she said.

Michael Tuer from the Solway branch of the Campaign for Real Ale, said they would be “disappointed” if The Stag did not remain a pub.

“We are always concerned when we lose what is a community asset. As far as pubs go many have disappeared in the area around The Stag, so if it was to close as a pub it would be a huge loss,” added Mr Tuer. “But we appreciate managing a rural pub is not an easy task. People have got to travel to these places and that is the problem.”

The Grade II renovated pub is being marketed through Sidney Phillips at their Hexham office, and has been described as being in an ‘incredible affluent location’ with a potential for letting rooms and a car park for over 20 cars and on the Hadrian’s Walk Route.

Villagers are hoping someone will buy the pub after it had been rumoured, according to one resident, that if it was not sold in six months, the next move might be a change of use to a private dwelling.