A NORTH Herefordshire village pub that once faced closure is thriving again after a fluke 'rescue.'

The Balance Inn at Luston was advertised for sale for a long period and was opening just two days a week in the early part of the year.

The previous owner gained planning permission for conversion of the pub to three dwellings. Villagers feared the worst.

Now they are raising their glasses to new owners, a local family whose decision to get the pub up and running again came about in the oddest of circumstances.

The Childs family were planning to move from Leominster to Dilwyn when the deal on their new home collapsed.

Hours after hearing the bad news Leominster-born Grenville Childs, owner of the town's Little Bus Company, was driving past The Balance Inn during his regular run to Luston Primary School.

He knew the pub was on the market. He remembered his son Marc's words on one of the essentials in the search for a nice place to live - a village with a decent pub within walking distance.

"Why walk to the pub? Let's buy it!" Grenville said to his family later. They did, and swiftly.

Daughter Sara completed a British Innkeepers course at college in Hereford and stepped in as the pub's new licensee. She forms a team with her brother Marc and his partner Kelly who manages the restaurant.

Grenville and his wife Jeanette, who have given huge back up to help with major refurbishment of the building, are also resident at the Balance.

For them it's a bit like coming 'home'.

Jeannette's roots are in the parish. Her family lived at Ashton and she attended the tiny school at Moreton Eye, a forerunner of Luston Primary.

She and Grenville were married at Eye Church in 1975 and celebrated with their guests at the village's Cawley Hall.

The pair are enjoying renewing old links while the younger generation work to put the Balance at the heart of the community. Marc and Sara aim to make the pub the hub and are particularly keen that it will always be 'family friendly' establishment.