FUNDRAISING has officially started to create a community pub in Kenton.

The Kenton Pub and Community Group has launched a funding appeal to press ahead with plans to take over the former Dolphin Inn.

The Fore Street pub closed five years ago but hopes are high it can be turned into a community-owned pub.

A ‘passionate’ group of local residents has embarked on the first stages of trying to reopen the pub.

A Go Fund Me page has been set up to raise £10,000.

The current target is to cover the initial costs of but more will be needed and the aim is to raise this through shares to purchase the property for the community.

One of the first fundraising efforts was a stall at the garden festival run at Powderham Caste by celebrity gardener Toby Buckland.

One of the organisers, Georgie Jones, said: ‘What a brilliant start it was.

‘A few of our KPCG members were out on the stall, spreading the word about our ambitions to open a community hub.

‘The atmosphere was full of positivity, great conversations, and genuine support for our vision.’

In March, the village Community Benefits Society first formed in 2019 was revived as Kenton Pub and Community Group.

It was agreed to carry out a feasibility study and conduct a survey to gain feedback on support for the project.

Kenton Parish Council has successfully nominated the property as a listed asset.

Now the task of raising money to buy the former pub has begun in earnest.

The group says: ‘Reviving a village pub has been successfully achieved in other communities all over the UK, including several in Devon.

‘Our vision is to create a welcoming space for everyone to enjoy.

‘The Kenton Pub and Community Group is well on the way to raising money to re-open a pub having lost ours for five years

‘The former Dolphin Inn could be purchased and re-opened as a renovated space that will act as not only a community-owned pub but also a community space.

‘Pubs and community spaces are places to connect, congratulate, and commiserate; to share love, joy, music, quizzing, community meetings, reunions of old friends, making new ones, even a feast on a carvery.

‘For more than 200 years, Kenton has been home to warm memories of pubs, but in 2025 our community finds ourselves without one.

‘Not only are we looking to revive a historic cultural necessity, but want to develop a modernised community space which could include a place to eat, hold meetings, have coffee and cake, swap books and to have a space to connect with others.’

Organisers are in talks with other venues which have successfully established community pubs including The Drewe Arms, Drewsteignton, and the Tally Ho! in Littlehempston.

They are also using being supported by the national Plunkett Foundation, a charity which helps people in rural areas to set up and run businesses in community ownership.