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They’ve taken out a 5 year lease

Fourteen ‘accidental landlords’ of a Luton pub are celebrating after its relaunch on Saturday.

The group, all drinkers at the Black Swan on Black Swan Lane, decided to take action earlier this year over fears of the ancient hostelry’s future.

There has been a pub on the site since the 1800s. The most recent building is from the early 1900s. But the friends felt the pub had been going downhill in the past couple of years, with little investment.

Twelve of the 14 'accidental landlords' of the Black Swan

They approached owners Stonegate Group and have now taken out a five year lease on the pub.

After a month of gutting the place, refurbishing, refitting and painting and decorating, largely work carried out by the group themselves, the pub held a relaunch party at the weekend, and has big plans for the future.

One of the new landlords, Alan Gallagher, said: “We are all locals who have frequented the pub for many years and we are all friends down there. It would have been a shame just to let it go and we felt that we could do enough to the place to bring back the punters. I’ve never seen it so busy as in the past couple of weekends.

"I suppose we are accidental landlords, just in the right place at the right time. It would have been an awful shame to let it close.”

Manager Ken Brett has been at the pub for the past 12 years. He said: “Everyone knows each other, it’s just the way it with this pub. They want to keep it for the community. The relaunch party was very successful with lots of new faces.”

And the group has huge plans for the future, bringing in a marquee for a Christmas party for the children, keeping the traditional pub entertainment such as pool, darts and dominoes, but also encouraging quizzes and introducing more live music.

"There’s going to be lots more music in there,” said Alan. “More entertainment with DJs and we are going to be focusing on live bands as well.”

New TVs will show the World Cup games for the tournament and the children’s party takes place on December 17.

Find out the latest events at the pub’s Facebook page.

14 pub regulars turned 'accidental landlords' take over Luton’s Black Swan