One Man's Mortgage Gamble Saves a Century-Old English Pub

At 73 years old, most people are thinking about retirement, not taking on financial risk. But Peter Manfield, a music teacher and musician from Knowle, Budleigh Salterton in Devon, England, saw his beloved village pub facing demolition and decided that some things are worth betting the house on—literally.

The Dog and Donkey, which opened as the Britannia Inn in 1926, was slated to be sold off and replaced with a block of apartments. For Manfield, who’d called the village home since 1997, the thought of losing the pub was unacceptable.“To lose the village’s heart would’ve been catastrophic in my opinion,”he explained to SWNS news.“You haven’t got history, that history of 100 years is gone and when it’s gone there’s no bringing it back.”So he remortgaged his home and bought the pub in 2024 for around £270,000.

What could’ve been a risky venture turned into something remarkable, thanks in large part to a chance encounter. Manfield met Mark Loftin while getting a haircut and mentioned he was thinking about buying a pub. Loftin, who had no prior pub management experience, told him he’d be interested in trying his hand at running the place.“He’s never run a pub before, which is brilliant in many ways—he’s got no baggage,”Manfield said. The partnership worked. Together, they’ve kept the pub true to its traditional roots, resisting the urge to rebrand it as a gastro-pub and instead keeping it as a genuine community gathering spot for dog walkers, skittle teams, and locals needing a place to unwind.

The community has responded with overwhelming support. The pub is thriving, and locals have taken to social media to praise Manfield’s decision.“It’s a traditional English pub doing traditional English things,”he said.“Many pubs are struggling and closing. This pub is surviving.”In saving The Dog and Donkey, Manfield didn’t just preserve a building—he protected a space where his village could continue to be itself. That’s worth more than the equity in any house.