Overview
- Prince William made a £1,000 personal donation to the Semington Community Benefit Society to support its campaign to buy the Somerset Arms in Semington, Wiltshire.
- He sent a letter praising rural pubs as vital community spaces and said he looks forward to visiting and “pulling a pint” if the purchase succeeds.
- The Semington campaign has secured nearly £195,000 in pledges plus about £4,000 in individual donations toward a £395,000 purchase target for the three-year-empty pub.
- Queen Camilla has separately written in support of a different community bid to save the Fountain Inn in Plumpton Green, adding royal letters and visits to recent gestures of backing.
- The donations come against a long-term decline in Britain’s pubs, with industry figures showing about one permanent closure a day last year and roughly 15,000 closures since 2000, and follow a government hospitality relief package announced earlier this year.