The Gornal pub saved from being lost forever and given new lease of life by former local
As pubs continue to battle the cost of living crisis, the Express & Star continues its Love Your Local series which celebrates our local inns.
It could have been lost and redeveloped as flats, but a Black Country pub has survived and begun to thrive after being given a new life.
The future of the Five Ways Inn in Gornal had seemed uncertain after closure in May and planning permission to convert it into flats was approved.
However, a former local and owner of the Jinja beer company, Mike Westwood, felt he didn't want to see the pub disappear and kept in touch with the previous owners in case they changed their minds.
He explains: "I'm a Gornal lad and the Five Ways used to be my local for quite a few years and I still only live two minutes away, plus I've also supplied beer to them in the past and got to know the owners Ian and Wendy Harris.
"I did have discussions with them about taking the pub on, but they were looking to either sell it or go down the renovation route and I know the planning permission had got approved, but I would always say to them that if they changed their minds or anything happened to give me a shout and see what we can do.
"They came back to me and said the feedback from locals was that they didn't want to lose it as a pub and Ian said he really didn't want to see it close, so I put forward a proposal for him to ensure that it's beneficial for him to keep it open as a pub and not go down the demolition route."
