Plans to demolish Exeter's Queen's Head pub in Pinhoe Road, next to Polsloe Bridge, have been thrown out by city planners.
More than 1,000 people had registered their objections to plans to bulldoze the pub and turn it into a supermarket.
Their efforts won them the argument - and praise for the way they had rallied round to keep the demolition men at bay.
They packed the council committee room and burst into applause when, after a lengthy debate, councillors decided unanimously to reject an application from frozen food giants Farm Foods that would have seen the pub, built in 1931, flattened and a supermarket built on the site.
