PRIME Minister Rishi Sunak has paid a visit to a local pub as part of his campaign visit to the South West. 

He met the group responsible for taking over ownership of the Drewe Arms in Drewsteignton which reopened in March following a community bid to save the historic pub.

He sat at a long table with the pub’s committee and drank a pint of lemonade from a traditional beer mug.

He was joined by Mel Stride, the Work and Pensions Secretary, who is fighting to retain his seat of Central Devon which he has held for the Conservatives since 2010. 

In the corner of the small pub room otherwise filled with the Prime Minister, his team, and the pack of travelling photographers and journalists, two French tourists were reported to have watched the scene with bemusement.

The Drewe Arms was saved by the community who raised the £552,000 to buy it. 

It has now opened its doors and is run as community pub after a campaign was launched in autumn 2022 when it was put up for sale. 

The much-loved pub is now run by the Drewsteignton Community Society Limited, comprising local residents in Drewsteignton who rallied together and raised the funds through a crowdfunder.

With the pub’s freehold up grabs for the first time in living memory, the steering group has been striving to take ownership and transform the property into a community asset.

The Grade II* listed public house was built in the 17th century and modernised in the late 19th century. 

The interior was largely modernised in the 19th century, but no further modernisation has occurred and some of the 17th century woodwork remains. 

It is on the Campaign for Real Ale's National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors.

Conservative Mel Stride is standing for re-election in Central Devon, a constituency which includes Crediton, Okehampton and Ashburton.

The other candidates to date are Ollie Pearson for the Labour Party, Mark Wooding for the Liberal Democrats, Gill Westcott for the Green Party and Jeffrey Leeks for Reform UK.