'We couldn't face losing our boozer...so we all bought it'

How five swimmers took the plunge to save their local pub by snapping it up for £470k

- By Hannah Britt

A LONG-NEGLECTED seafront pub with peeling bright blue paint caught the eye of five swimmers as they bobbed about in the chilly waves.

One of the year-round sea dippers joked they should buy it. Months later they took the plunge and did just that.

In July, the women pooled their savings to buy The Forester for £470,000 at auction, saving the 19th century pub in Deal, Kent, from demolition or redevelopment.

Now Jane, Becky, Pascale, Megan and Gemma, known as the Forester Five, are being applauded by locals for saving what they call "the only real pub in Deal".

None of the Forester Five had even pulled a pint let alone run a pub but drinkers are flocking to the place. Sadly, the Five are bucking a national trend, with one pub a day shutting in England and Wales last year due to cost pressures.

UK landlords protested about Chancellor Rachel Reeves' business rate changes in her November Budget. But the PM's spokesman said she had delivered a £4.3billion support package for pubs, restaurants, and cafes as hospitality is a "vital part of our economy".

Mum-of-three Gemma Jackson, 45, who works in financial services tech, is alarmed at the rate of pub closures.

"They're bought and turned into houses by property developers, it's sad. We couldn't bear for the same thing to happen to The Forester. It's in such a good location on the seafront, it's got 'luxury flats' written all over it.