THE only watering-hole for villagers in a tiny south Essex hamlet is set to reopen - thanks to the fundraising efforts of determined residents.

Mews Bar, in the riverside village of South Fambridge, closed four months ago.

But from Friday, July 4, the taps will be open again, after the community raised more than £5,000 to get their boozer back.

Some of the village's 250 residents have even volunteered to work for nothing behind the bar to keep a lid on rising overheads which closed it in the first place.

Leading campaigner Chess Nelson, 49, said: "We want to provide a place where home-cooked food and a friendly atmosphere will welcome everybody.

"We have a beautiful bar and cafe in this village where we are fortunate enough to live."

South Fambridge has no shops, but for about 100 years, it had a pub, the Anchor. The old hostelry was demolished five years ago to make way for a new development which included Mews Bar.

Mrs Nelson added: "The pub was demolished and a planning application went in for ten flats, three cottages and a cafe bar.

"It was named the Mews Bar after the new apartment complex, which was called Maritime Mews and it opened in 2006."

Mrs Nelson said the closure in February as a "huge blow" to villagers who had nowhere else to socialise locally.

She added: "What is particularly remarkable about this community initiative is all £5,100 was raised from donations from the villagers themselves in a matter of weeks."

For more information, visit www.mewsbar.co.uk