Prince Charles to visit pub in Upton, near Acle

The prince will visit the White Horse pub in Upton. Photo: Denise Bradley (Image: Archant 2012)

The White Horse pub, in Upton, near Acle, received £50,000 from the Prince's Countryside fund in 2012, helping the community buy out the troubled pub.

Then in 2014, The Pub is the Hub provided £4,000 worth of funding for a community shop to be added in a converted barn adjacent to the pub.

Peter Crook, director of The White Horse development Trust, said: 'We are delighted to have him at our pub.

'Both the Pub of the Hub and the Prince's Countryside Fund put a lot of money into our community pub.

'When we were looking to acquire the pub when it was facing closure, the £50,000 that was donated to us played a big part in us being able to keep the pub open.

'And then the shop has been such a great success also, and it will be good for him to the meet people and see how it has grown.'

The White Horse pub at Upton suffered during the recession and was facing closure when the village decided to acquire it.

A community interest group was formed and local residents raised over £100,000 share capital towards the purchase.

Grants from the Prince's Countryside Fund and grants from Broadland District Council enabled the purchase to completed in July 2012, with the pub becoming the first to be community-owned in the county.

The pub now in its forth year, has grown from one employee to a full-time staff of five and part time worth of 15.

The pub and restaurant serves the Upton community and has become a popular tourist destination for leisure visitors to the Norfolk Broads.

The current pub was built in the nineteenth century with considerable additions since. Records show there had been a pub on the site for over 200 years.

The community shop, which opened in April last year, is run by a team of some 25 volunteers - and was brought in at a time when Upton had been without a shop for a number of years.