As you may know, there are many people in Rough Close who are actively campaigning against the planning application. One particularly active resident has come up with a number of ideas for saving the pub from oblivion.
One possibility is to run the pub as a social enterprise, something that might have occurred to many of you. We think the idea has a lot of potential. However, it is predicated on the owners being prepared to sell. And of course, that presents a number of problems not least of which is that they have clearly been stripping the place of its assets for some months. Nevertheless, we think it is a sound idea that could be taken forward and is not too dissimilar from a previous suggestion made by Parish Councillor Joy Bennett.
The way this would work is that residents would purchase a share in the pub and be responsible for its ongoing management. There are numerous examples around the country of where this has been successfully implemented.
We also hear "on the grapevine" of various people who have expressed an interest in buying the place and running it as either a pub or a restaurant. So far, no serious contenders seem to have materialised and, of course, as we said earlier, all would depend on the owners being prepared to sell and the extent of the asset stripping.
Anyway, if you have any thoughts on the matter or know of anyone who might be interested in taking such a proposal forward do drop us a line or leave a comment.
Sunday 7 March 2010
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Not sure if this is true but the two ladies that ran the very successful acoustic nights on a Thursday expressed an interest in buying the pub. The owners did not want to sell as, at that time, they intended to demolish it and build the flats.
ReplyDeleteAs you say, they for some reason have stripped everything of any value including the kitchens and the heating system so I can't see any residents being interested in buying the pub unless it was at a price which reflected the disgusting state they have left it in.
What an interesting idea and worthy of consideration if the community can come together on this with the required putting their money where their mouths are !
ReplyDeleteThe obvious problem would be the Davis`s and their development plans....if the site came with planning permission the required price would be massively more costly than without and we are in the councils slowly moving hands on that.
As it stands the site is "worth" what they paid for it....was that £300k,we hear so many figures ?
But with planning permission the site is worth what it cost plus whatever profit they can make from building and selling 8 houses.That must be closer to £1 million factoring in the likely profits from selling 8 houses at (say) £350k each ?
The potential for viability is in the hands of the planning permission deciders and we have already heard that our local borough councillors have done little to support the cause so far.
How about a parish council agenda item on this proposal so that we could all discuss this at a suitable meeting to check out its viability and worth? If any of our parish councillors read this blog (and if not,why not ?) will they put the idea as an agenda item for us ?
All of course subject to the planning permission process....raising the money to buy the G&D without planning permission may be possible,with planning permission then it has no chance.
Parish councillors ?
Thanks for your comments. We think they are deserving of a view from Parish Councillors. We'll drop them a line and see what they think.
ReplyDeleteI believe that there is to be a planning meeting sometime during March 2010 when the application is to be discussed.
ReplyDeleteThe Parish Council, and me as an individual, are still WHOLLY OPPOSED to the redevelopment of the George & Dragon for housing. Your Borough Councillors are also opposed and have said so (contrary to the blog posted above). It is a shame that anyone who stands up for a cause on the community's behalf then gets accused of wrong doing (by members of our community via the Planning Portal) without giving your local representative the benefit of the doubt and trusting their word.
With regards to the suggestion of a running of the pub as a social enterprise, I personally think that it is a great idea and worthy of further discussiion. We have our monthly Parish Council meeting this Thursday and it is unfortunately too late to add this item to the Agenda. I will ask for it to be added for discussion during the April meeting (Thursday 8th April 2010).