I bought my local village pub to save it from being turned into housing – I can’t wait to bring it back to life again

• Dino Johnson, 58, bought his local pub The Captain Howey in New Romney, Kent 

A businessman who bought his local village pub to save it from being turned into housing says he can’t wait to ‘bring it back to life’.

Dino Johnson bought The Captain Howey in New Romney, Kent, after he found out housing developers wanted to turn it into flats.

The 58-year-old, who owns The Littlestone Hotel next door, found out about the plan for the village pub after a London-based company that was interested in buying it asked him if he was willing to sell his hotel to them too.

But Mr Johnson turned them away and instead put in an offer for the pub himself when it was listed for sale, saying letting the property go would be a ‘disaster’.

Mr Johnson will run the pub – which comes with nine guest rooms – alongside his hotel which has 16 en-suite rooms.

Dino Johnson, 58, bought his local village pub to save it from being turned into housing

Mr Johnson will run the pub – which comes with nine guest rooms – alongside his hotel

The hotel owner said the London company only wanted to buy the pub if they could buy his hotel too but he turned them away because he didn’t want to be stuck with a ‘building site’ next door.

He kept an eye out and jumped at the chance to put in an offer when The Captain Howey went on sale in June.

With no other potential buyers interested in taking it over as a pub, his offer was accepted and got to work on renovating it.

Mr Johnson, who is also a school governor, said: ‘The pub had been quieter over the last few months and the property was a leasehold.

‘The lease was coming to an end at the end of the year and he decided to give it up earlier.

‘This London company wanted both plots but the idea of having a building site next to us for three or four years was not appealing.

‘I can’t wait to bring it back to life again.

‘All the neighbours are passing by and saying the look has changed, it’s tidy, it’s fresh.

‘We have a small army of people working to upgrade it.

‘It has nine en-suite rooms that we can easily manage as it’s next door and we are in negotiation with a catering company to take care of the restaurant and the pub side.

‘It’ll have a new decor and new look in the pub.

‘We have a lot of input from local people as well, to keep everybody happy.’

Dino took over the Littlestone Hotel in 2003, and he said the opportunity to own both establishments is ‘very positive’ and says letting it go would have been a ‘disaster’ for tourism.

He added: ‘It feels unbelievable to have both now.

‘To have the opportunity to own next door is really nice, very positive.

‘The community round here is very important.

‘A lot of people from around the country and the world come to see the Romney Hythe and Dymchurch Railway station here and staying at the Howey is a part of that experience, so letting it go would have been a disaster.’

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