Raven Inn

The Raven at Llanarmon-yn-Ial, a 1722 inn in the Denbighshire hills, was closed in 2009 and lined up to become housing — until the village refused, formed a co-operative, and took it on themselves. It has been community-run ever since, staffed largely by volunteers, with any profit going back into the village; the company that runs it, Raven Mad Limited, is owned not by a landlord but by the people who saved it. It is a free house in the fullest sense of the word, and a working example of what a village can do when it decides its pub is worth keeping. Go for a pint that funds the place it is poured in.