Our vision is to:
- Purchase the pub as a community asset and refurbish and improve the pub as a fit for purpose pub/hub venue, serving good quality drinks and food for the village and a destination pub for the wider community, with additional services as a pub/hub.
- ‘More than a Pub’, feelings are running very high that with the school planned closure, shop closure and potential loss of bus service we must not also lose the pub. The Black Lion will not just become a pub again, but a vital ‘hub’, providing other services and getting back a thriving community spirit in our village. Potential ideas: vibrant pub serving food, Café, Wellbeing Garden, Market Garden, Community Orchard & Allotment, Shop, Free Wi-Fi, Pop Up Health, Free Meeting Space etc
- See the pub operated independently by a tenant who shares a vison for a successful village and destination pub also serving as a community hub for the village and surrounding area
- Restore the essential elements of village life that a vibrant pub can bring and in turn support the local economy, provide local jobs, sustainability and the future of the pub whilst being self-determining.
How do we purchase the Black Lion as a Community Pub?
Community Benefit Society – Legal Framework for Community Pub/Hub Group
Most Community Pub/Hubs have been advised by the Plunkett Foundation (experts within community pub sector) to register as a Community Benefit Society.
Community Benefit Societies are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, based around a Co-operative legal framework.
A CBS is a legal model which emphasises the social benefit of the investment we are asking future members to make.
Incorporation gives the members and directors the protection of limited liability, just like a limited company, but unlike a company, a Community Benefit Society is not designed to generate private profit, but to deliver a community benefit (though we certainly intend that investors will receive a fair return on their investment).
This model guarantees that the assets (Pub Buildings & Land) the society will own will be used for the benefit of the community and cannot be disposed of for the private profit of the directors or members.
Investing in community shares engages communities in a virtuous circle where it is in their interests as members and investors to be active as customers, as supporters, and as volunteers.
This business model has been tried and tested elsewhere. There are now over 146 community pubs across the UK that have been opened over the past eight years. Locally the Foresters Arms in Coverdale, the George and Dragon in Hudswell, Green Dragon in Exelby and The Travellers Rest in Skeeby have been established on this basis.
So far, none of the community pubs that have adopted this model have closed and all are thriving. The George and Dragon in Hudswell was chosen by CAMRA as their UK Pub of the Year, demonstrating that this business model of pub ownership can lead the way, competing effectively with pubs owned by pub companies, brewers and private individuals.
A community pub/hub would ideally be leased to a tenant who would run the pub in line with the community vision. The tenancy rent would be set at a level that gives the tenant the opportunity and incentive to run and invest in their own profitable business (drinks, food and accommodation sales) while providing the community with the revenue to maintain the fabric of the building and land, pay a modest rate of interest to shareholders and to help fund the withdrawal of shares from time to time
How does the village and surrounding area fund the purchase and re-furnishment of the Black Lion?
- Community Shares (individual and business) – share purchase allows individuals to become members of the Community Benefit Society. Open and voluntary membership, giving members part ownership of the community business. ‘One member one vote’ basis rather than ‘one share one vote’. Most Community Pub Shares have been set at £250 per share, and multiple shares can be purchased. A Community Benefit Society has the power to pay interest on members’ share capital.
- Donations ‘in kind’ of building materials, equipment, labour and services.
- Donations from village and local community
- National Lottery
- Other regional & national funding initiatives
- Government Funding through the Community Ownership Fund, £250,000 matched funding & £50,000 unmatched funding is available. What this means is to receive up to £250,000 of matched funding from the Government we as a community both the village and the wider area would need to raise up to £250,000.