Meet the newly chosen owners of Preston's Hard Rubbish - the beloved bar given away for free

Preston bar Hard Rubbish has new owners, but no money has changed hands. The founders of the six-year-old craft beer hangout announced in September that they would bestow their business rather than sell it.

"It's time for us to move on and we thought it would be nice to hand the venue to someone young to give them a leg up," says original owner Charlotte Tizzard, who runs the bar with her brother James Tizzard and sister-in-law Katie Smith.

They received 37 proposals which were whittled down to a shortlist of seven operators, who pitched their ideas to 100 bar-goers on November 8.

Customer votes helped make the decision to eventually hand Hard Rubbish over to a trio who call themselves The Working Class Heroes. They will take over early in the new year.

"They are young, energetic, mature and super excited," says Tizzard. "It was their absolute passion for this line of work that got them over the line."

The Heroes – Dusty Reid, Mercedes Zanker and Joe Lorback – all have extensive and complementary experience in hospitality, from bartending, cooking and design to wine-buying, budgeting, management and accounts.

They outlined their credentials in an application video filmed as they wheeled one another along in a supermarket shopping trolley which ended its journey not as hard rubbish but at Hard Rubbish bar.

Zanker is still processing her new identity as a business owner. "We have all worked in hospo a really long time," she says.

"It's always been a dream to own a place but it wasn't possible. When we saw this come up we got in touch with each other within a few minutes and decided to go for it. We are so excited and overwhelmed and grateful for the opportunity."

In the proposal video, Joe Lorback says there isn't much about the bar they want to change. "We'll keep the delicious beer, build on our relationships with locals, make it representative of ourselves, and keep staff involved with every stage of the process," he says.

"We wish we had seven bars to give away," says Charlotte Tizzard, who was impressed by the high quality of the applications.

One was from the bar's own staff. "It was really difficult to say no to them but they love the place as much as we do and they just want to see the best for it," she says.

If Tizzard has learned anything, it's about community. "People are really engaged: they really care about what happens to the spaces around them. And from our point of view, it's an amazing feeling to be able to do something that will make a big difference in peoples' lives."

670 Plenty Road, Preston, instagram.com/hardrubbish_bar