The main objective is have our pub open again. We can’t afford to be without it.
No. 1. Heritage and Community Impact
It is not just the loss of one pub, it is our only pub and one with a long interesting history. Especially in rural areas – the pub acts as an essential melting pot bringing the community together from all walks of life. The pub is important as the main hub in the community’s infrastructure, offering support to a wide range of activities and acting as physical incubators which foster engagement and involvement among the community, as well as creating jobs for local people and local suppliers.
No. 2 You cannot condemn a viable Pub
We know that the Inn is viable through our own viability test – carried out with the assistance of local experts and conforming to the industry standards. The council has also now commissioned two independent tests and all demonstrate viability.
No. 3 A new beginning
The pub has been closed for over two years now and is not in a state to open doors. Only a short lease of approximately 10 years has been offered to date. Perhaps a difficult term to attract any serious investment needed to bring it up to a suitable standard. We believe, should the freehold be offered at a market rate a buyer could be found. Regardless to say, we will endeavour to support any party with genuine intention in opening the doors of this fine inn once again.
Community Enterprise
The team worked hard last year or so to make sure they explored all possible operating models to secure the future of the pub as a community-led venture. With guidance from industry experts – start up plans were formed ,budgetary figures put together and numbers crunched. Unfortunately, we have been unable to find a viable solution with the terms currently offered. This has come as no surprise, as the term length has always been deemed as far to short to realise a reasonable business model. With this second “Change of Use” application on the table we shall focus our attentions on getting the application refused first. However, the team have not given up and will hopefully return to explore further – possible Community-led ventures.