Friday, 24 April 2026
Community purchase of the Hare & Hounds is now possible
The Board of Wadsworth Area Community Assets (WACA) has formally resolved to proceed with investigating the community purchase of the Hare & Hounds, Old Town, for operation as a community freehouse pub. This decision is founded on a substantial and consistent body of evidence that the community of Old Town and the surrounding Wadsworth area wishes to see this pub saved, reopened, and sustained as a community asset.
That evidence is both broad and deep. Across multiple independent channels - including an online petition of over 1,265 signatures, two rounds of public consultation meetings attended by more than 260 people in total, an anonymous questionnaire showing 93.3% support for proceeding with a purchase, over 320 formally verified planning objections to the proposed change of use, and an earlier online survey returning 98.4% support for protecting the pub - the community has spoken clearly and consistently.
Hare and Hounds - Photo:HebWeb
That mandate has been independently corroborated. Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council formally listed the Hare & Hounds as an Asset of Community Value in March 2026, recognising its importance within the statutory planning framework. WACA has received written support from local councillors, Wadsworth Parish Council, the majority of local community groups, CAMRA, neighbouring local pubs - both privately and community-owned - as well as local businesses.
WACA operates as a Community Benefit Society within the established frameworks provided by Co-operatives UK and Plunkett UK, both of which exist specifically to support communities undertaking exactly this kind of project.
We are grateful to every member of this community who has made their voice heard - through petitions, surveys, planning objections, public meetings, and messages of support. The mandate we carry into this next stage belongs to you. We will pursue it with care, transparency, and determination."
What next?
We're hard at work exploring the various funding sources available to fund a community acquisition of the pub. We're putting together a community share offer - and have received a great deal of interest in this already. This would allow you and other members of the local community to become shareholders in the Hare and Hounds. We'll share more details as soon as we can.
If you have any suggestions for funding sources or skills that may come in useful in our campaign, please get in touch at info@WACACoop.org.uk.
The Rightmove page for this sale says "offers in excess of £500k" are being sought.
More info
- Petition to save the Hare and Hounds from Closure
- WACA website
- WACA on Facebook
- Calderdale Planning section - to comment on the request for Change Of Use from a public house to a private residence, go to this page and enter 25/01249 in the search box. Until 3 Feb.
- Community consultation
Previously, on the HebWeb
- Hare and Hounds up for sale (8 April 2026)
- Hare and Hounds update (7 March 2026)
- Old Town fights to save its pub: the Hare and Hounds (21 January)
- Save the Hare and Hounds (14 Dec 2025)
- HebWeb Forum (Oct 2020)
Thanks to WACA for this update