The Black Lion, in Skelton on Ure, has been closed for the last three years - despite being in business for more than 200 years before that. It is currently owned by Admiral Taverns, which has put it on the market.

The village, which has around 360 residents, is also home to Skelton Newby School, which currently has nine pupils, and is owned by the near Newby Estate.

A fundraising campaign has been launched to buy the pub from Admiral Taverns, which has said it will sell the site either as a pub or for development. The villagers have already raised £80,000 of their £250,000 target, and is urging people to come forward to buy a stake in their pub, and the future of the community. Similar schemes have been set up in other Yorkshire villages in recent years, most notably in Excelby, where The Green Dragon is now owned by the community.

Sandy Delf, who lives in the village, said she is hopeful the community will rally round to save the pub.

She said: “The pub is something we have talked about. We did a questionnaire and I think it was about 85 per cent of people who said they would be interested or extremely interested in having a pub in the village again. There’s definitely an opportunity. We visited Excelby and it’s quite a similar village, just a few miles outside of Bedale, and that’s the vision we have for the Black Lion.

“With a little bit of investment there is a huge opportunity. We are nearing £80,000 in pledges but there is an opportunity to go so far. It would be a tenanted pub, run by someone who has sympathy for the community so we could have some food and some beer. There is the cafe idea too, because we have a lot of cyclists in the village so that could work too.”

However Mrs Delf said she fears the school could also soon close down due to a lack of pupils, while a village shop and church may also be running out of time.

Mrs Delf added: “It’s a real shame that the school could close down, because there are some schools in the area which are absolutely bursting. There is one nearby school which has 35 children in a class. There are schools nearby which are oversubscribed, so it would be nice if there was an academy which could take on the school, or if it could team up with one of the other church academies.”

The £250,000 target would allow the group to apply for match funding from the Government backed “Community Ownership Fund”. The group has already been recognised as a Community Benefit Society.

A statement from the group said: “With shares costing £250 each, there’s an opportunity for plenty of people to own a little bit of a village pub and contribute to its development. The ultimate aim is to create a welcoming community pub and hub open to all for food, drink, socialising and entertainment.”

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Yorkshire villagers battle to save community pub as school and shop also on the brink of closure