We are asking Wiltshire Council to continue to refuse any change of use for the Forester and to support the community’s plan to reopen it as a pub
Our village pub was put up for sale in 2024 and closed in early 2025. Since then in July 2025, the current owners applied to Wiltshire Council for permission to convert the pub into a residence.
The community have rallied to save the pub, setting up the Donheads' Community Benefit Society. We succeeded in having the pub listed as an Asset of Community Value and, with over 300 supporters for our campaign, we have received pledges of some £600,000 in order to buy and renovate the pub.
We have had the pub independently valued by professional chartered surveyors and had a full structural survey to assess works necessary to refurbish and reopen the Forester. We have made a formal offer to purchase the pub, but with no agreement as yet and the pub remains closed. We understand that the owners may lodge an appeal against the planning decision.
This petition is to galvanise further support from the community to show how determined we are to keep and reopen our pub, either under community ownership or as a commercial enterprise, and it will be used as evidence of our commitment in any Planning Appeal. Please sign here to add your support.
Updates
Reached 100 supporters
September 9, 2026
101 Comments
Thebpeoplenof Donhead and the surrounding area area desperate to preserve our 1 and only secular community building. Not only will we be saving this historic building and business, but creating a lasting hub, for our community. The vision is for more than just a pub, but also a hub fir the
Our village pub is so much more than a place to have a drink. It is a vital community hub and an important part of village life. It brings people together, provides a place to meet, socialise and support one another, and helps keep our village a connected community.
We miss having a pub in the village. We miss the warmth, connection and conversation. We’d like to have it back.
The pub is our last remaining social centre. There's so much good will to keep it going, what a boost for the village it will be to re-launch it as a community hub - strengthening relationships and reducing loneliness.
The beating heart of any community; when that goes it's more than a loss of a building.
I believe the pub would be an invaluable and very important asset for this rural community. It would help to foster community relations which is so important currently and as a meeting point to give people feeling isolated a place to make contacts.
I've enjoyed a few meals at The Foresters; I appreciate its special hospitality; cosy rooms, log fires, dog friendly (I always met such nicer dogs there!). Rural village pubs are special; they're not commodities to be abandoned, they take centuries to acquire their characters; they speak to history, to a time of tight and mutually-supporting communities through thick and thin.
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We are asking Wiltshire Council to continue to refuse any change of use for the Forester and to support the community’s plan to reopen it as a pub
Our village pub was put up for sale in 2024 and closed in early 2025. Since then in July 2025, the current owners applied to Wiltshire Council for permission to convert the pub into a residence.
The community have rallied to save the pub, setting up the Donheads' Community Benefit Society. We succeeded in having the pub listed as an Asset of Community Value and, with over 300 supporters for our campaign, we have received pledges of some £600,000 in order to buy and renovate the pub.
We have had the pub independently valued by professional chartered surveyors and had a full structural survey to assess works necessary to refurbish and reopen the Forester. We have made a formal offer to purchase the pub, but with no agreement as yet and the pub remains closed. We understand that the owners may lodge an appeal against the planning decision.
This petition is to galvanise further support from the community to show how determined we are to keep and reopen our pub, either under community ownership or as a commercial enterprise, and it will be used as evidence of our commitment in any Planning Appeal. Please sign here to add your support.
Updates
Reached 100 supporters
September 9, 2026
101 Comments
We need to save our local pubs, they are much more than just a pub, they are a community asset and with a community such as one that has raised enough funds to purchase it, it just goes to show how much it’s needed.
Thebpeoplenof Donhead and the surrounding area area desperate to preserve our 1 and only secular community building. Not only will we be saving this historic building and business, but creating a lasting hub, for our community. The vision is for more than just a pub, but also a hub fir the
Our village pub is so much more than a place to have a drink. It is a vital community hub and an important part of village life. It brings people together, provides a place to meet, socialise and support one another, and helps keep our village a connected community.
We miss having a pub in the village. We miss the warmth, connection and conversation. We’d like to have it back.
The pub is our last remaining social centre. There's so much good will to keep it going, what a boost for the village it will be to re-launch it as a community hub - strengthening relationships and reducing loneliness.
The beating heart of any community; when that goes it's more than a loss of a building.
I believe the pub would be an invaluable and very important asset for this rural community. It would help to foster community relations which is so important currently and as a meeting point to give people feeling isolated a place to make contacts.
I've enjoyed a few meals at The Foresters; I appreciate its special hospitality; cosy rooms, log fires, dog friendly (I always met such nicer dogs there!). Rural village pubs are special; they're not commodities to be abandoned, they take centuries to acquire their characters; they speak to history, to a time of tight and mutually-supporting communities through thick and thin.
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We need to save our local pubs, they are much more than just a pub, they are a community asset and with a community such as one that has raised enough funds to purchase it, it just goes to show how much it’s needed.