At last, after a month of May to forget, June has brought out the sun and the Pubs are open again.
This would be the time that, normally, we could all drift, saunter, meander or stroll up to the White Lion and enjoy a drink in the grounds with friends, whist enjoying the weather.
With the pub now closed for too many years, we as a community, are being denied that pleasure.
It’s a real shame!
Where are we now?
As you know from previous communications the owner advised SODC that he was putting the White Lion up for sale.
This is a legal obligation under the terms of the Asset of Community Value status that the White Lion now enjoys, if he wishes to sell the property to any one whilst the ACV is in place.
As previously reported a Community Interest Company (CIC) was formed to progress the matter with the owner.
Bill Pechey who is one of the Directors, is taking forward the discussions. He reports "We are in discussion with the owner and have made an offer but things are still at a very early stage."
If there is any more information we will let you know when we get it.
A BIG Thank You!
Some of you have seen the fundraising page on the website, where we are asking those who wish to do so to indicate that they would be willing to financially support the CIC when the time comes. It is worth a read, highlight and use the link is below-
These pledges are in addition to those already made supporting the project, and would sit alongside grants and funding from the Government Community Ownership Fund.
So a BIG thank you to those of you who have indicated their willingness to add their support.
The more the community pledges the more support from grants becomes available.
What is the Community Ownership Fund?
Source-https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/community-ownership-fund/community-ownership-fund
A Community Ownership Fund has been launched by Central Government to help ensure that communities across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland can support and continue benefiting from the local facilities, community assets and amenities to help ensure that important parts of the social fabric such as, pubs, sports clubs, theatres and post office buildings, etc, continue to play a central role in towns and villages across the UK.
The Government has seen a long-term trend of communities losing amenities, amenities such as the above, which foster a sense of community pride and bring people together. The loss of these amenities is shown to have a knock-on impact on people’s satisfaction with the place they live in, like wellbeing and the strength and cohesion of local communities.
There is evidence that assets and amenities of this variety can be successfully and sustainably brought into community ownership. This both enables people to continue to benefit, and empowers communities to shape the things that matter most to them. However, it can be hard for community groups to raise the initial funding required to buy the asset. The Community Ownership Fund will help enable community groups to overcome these barriers.
The Group and the CIC are researching the Community Ownership Fund to help support saving the White Lion at Crays Pond.
And Finally…..
We know you want the White Lion back up and running, so do we, and we are doing all we can to achieve this. We support not only the purchase of the pub by the community but also the pub opening up again and being run on a sustainable, commercial basis by others.
The Community Ownership Fund alongside community funding is just one way we can all make this happen.