Business partners Richie Cooney and Steve Rudd are back behind the bar of the Dun Cow in High Street West – 10 years after they originally took over.

The inn, on the street corner opposite Sunderland's Empire Theatre, has passed through a number of hands in recent months, and the chance to breathe new life in the glorious old venue was too much of a challenge for Richie and Steve to resist.

"It has been in the hands of a holding company for the last few months," said Steve.

"We just thought there was so much history to the place and so much unfulfilled potential here."

If the partners had not taken the pub over, a nationally-renowned piece of Wearside heritage could have been lost for ever.

The magnificent carved bar at the Dun Cow is enough to have earned the pub a place on a Camra list of Britain's finest watering holes – but not enough to save it from the threat of the axe.

"It was close to closure," revealed Richie. "The brewery was just about to wash their hands of it."

He added: "There are a lot of pubs you would say never in a million years would you think they would close – but this really was not far away."

The pub is in the hands of the same pub company that owns the Ashbrooke, which Richie also runs, which is how he came to hear about the threat to the Dun Cow.

"The place is really well known," he said. "Just the other day, we had a bloke in from Devon who was doing a tour of historic pubs nationwide."

Richie and Steve hope to succeed by taking the Dun Cow back to its roots.

"We are trying to push the real ales, and we are thinking about putting food on before the match again," said Steve.