THE landlords of a Ramsbottom pub are celebrating after reaching an agreement to extend their lease after being threatened with eviction.

Samantha Gibbs, tenant of The Major along with her husband, fought the Stonegate pub company after being told their lease would not be renewed despite turning the pub around and making it more successful.

Bury North MP James Daly and Dave Mountford of the Forum of British Pubs lent their support to the pub and helped lobby the pub company to reconsider.

Recently, Samantha was offered a new, five-year contract after reaching an “amicable agreement”.

Samantha said: “We’re completely over the moon and bowled over by the amazing amount of support we have had from our regulars.

“Now all we want to do is to get the pub back on track.

“People are so pleased for us and have told us how happy they are and how much this means to them.

“This, combined with Covid has made the last two months terrible.

“Our lives were turned upside down with all the uncertainty about our future.

“My job, whether I would be able to send my son to school, it has been awful.

“It was worth all the work in the end, but we had no reason to believe any of this would happen and I would not want to go through all that again.”

Mr Mountford said: “This is a really great success story, and we are very pleased, you can’t argue that this is not a good result.

“However, this kind of thing is still happening all over the country.

“There is still a long way to go before the Pub Code is made fair, because right now it is an abject disaster.

“I certainly didn’t expect this outcome, so it came as a pleasant surprise to me.

“Sam must keep on top of the company from now on and remain as vigilant as possible.

“The fact that this decision has been reached speaks volumes about the tenacity of Sam and everyone else involved.”