FEW men have done more to  earn a quiet pint in his local  than Mike Scales.

He saw no alternative but to  pitch in when he found out that  his favourite watering hole was  closing down

 That was two years ago and  now he and fellow villagers  are  celebrating victory in the campaign to save the Wyndham  Arms, the 400-year-old pub that  has “always been the life and  soul” of  Kentisbeare, near Cullompton.

It had closed down in July  2008 when its landlord retired  and its owner Enterprise Inns  said, due to spiralling repair  costs, it would be forced to  board up the premises and put it  on the market.

The village feared its closure  would serve “as a death-knell  for the whole community”.

Mr Scales set up an action  group called the Wyndham  Arms Restoration Team and in  several months brought the  building, which was entering a  state of disrepair, back from the  brink.

It was a campaign that, once  highlighted in the Echo, went  on to find worldwide attention  —  even featuring in the Los  Angeles Times.

Mr Scales and his 85 volunteers from the village managed  to get the pub in a fit state to  reopen, under the stewardship  of villagers, on September 25  last year.

Then, with Enterprise Inns,  they completed  the restoration  of the whole property, thanks to  the pub firm offering £100,000 in  response to the “excellent work  of the community”.

Mr Scales said: “We put in   new roof coverings, drainage,  plumbing, heating and electrical works plus fire alarms and we  reopened the function room,  skittle alley and gardens. We  completely renovated the trade  kitchen to the highest standards  possible.”

And now Mr Scales, whose  father was a pub landlord and  who put his own  career as a pub  and hotel auditor on hold during the campaign, is bowing  out.

He said: “We have just finished the last job, putting a roof  cover on the skittle alley.

“It means my work as the  project manager for all this has  now come to an end and I have   handed back the pub to a company we set up with some villagers. It is still owned by Enterprise but the company leases  it from them.

“I have to say I am quite  proud — but a bit knackered  and just want to lie down in a  quiet room. I don’t think anybody has worked so hard just to  have a pint at his local.”

Mr Scales, who lives opposite   the pub,  said: “It was very  stressful at times.

“We  sometimes worked 12  hours a day, seven days a week,  for 56 days to achieve what we  have done.

“I couldn’t have done it  without the people who offered  assistance.

 “They were so willing to help  because when they saw the pub  was closing it hit home that it  may never open again.

“It is like the post office or the  local store — if you take away  one of those three elements the  place starts to die.

“If we hadn’t taken action, the  pub could have been boarded up  for a year or more and in that  time the building would have  started to self-destruct through  neglect,” he said.

Mr Scales, who plans to write  a book about the project, is now  a mentor for the British Institute of Innkeeping, and any new  pub operator can contact him  for advice on any subject concerning their new venture.