News Archive
Community buys the Railway … (pub not trains)
[photo: Directors of Saffron Walden Community Pub inspect their new purchase. Chair Dave Kenny in doorway.] After a long journey with several delays the determined people of Saffron Walden in Essex now own the Railway Arms, an iconic pub that is part of the town’s industrial heritage. It was over four years ago that local […]
More houses, more pubs, more community shares – life as a lender under COVID-19
It goes without saying now that 2020 has been *quite* a year. Beyond ‘unprecedented’ and ‘challenging’ this has been one that none of us could have predicted and we’re still working our way through changes and shifts daily. You, like us, are probably thinking that this is here to stay for a while and we’re […]
Two Community Pubs open this week!
‘The church is near, but the road is icy. The pub is far away, but I will walk carefully.’ This Russian proverb sums up much of how central the pub is to many people in Britain. For centuries, at times of celebration or crisis, pubs have provided a warm welcome, a sanctuary from the weather, […]
Do you live or work in a ‘left behind’ place?
The Create Streets Foundation is launching ‘No Place Left Behind’, the Commission into Prosperity and Community Placemaking. This focuses on under-valued areas and takes as its mantra that no place should be left behind and aims to generate new ideas to help “level up” England as part of the country’s recovery from the COVID-19 crisis. […]
AGM highlights online
Members! If you want to see what happened at our AGM’s we have uploaded highlights to our YouTube channel. We’re not expecting this our meeting to challenge pop videos for the ‘most viewed’ crown but in the interests of transparency, we are happy to share the proceedings. Watch Part One for an introduction and the […]
Village celebrates new future for the Fox
[photo: Directors of Loxley Community Benefit Society celebrate the purchase with a socially distanced drink] The small village of Loxley near Stratford-upon-Avon is the latest to save its only pub from permanent closure. Local residents acted quickly when the Fox was unexpectedly put up for sale in April 2019. They formed an action group, conducted […]
Community ownership secures future of village shop and pub
The shop and the pub in a small village in Somerset have a secure future thanks to the efforts of the residents and support from a programme to support community ownership. Until recently Stoke St Gregory, near Taunton, had two pubs and an independent shop. In late 2017 the parish council learned that both pubs […]
Losing your local? Save it NOW with More Than A Pub
Communities across England are being urged to consider owning, leasing and running pubs which are under the threat of closure after the Covid-19 lockdown – and the More Than A Pub support programme is being relaunched to help. More Than a Pub is designed to support communities to save their local pubs by taking them […]
Fan power breathes new life into the old dog
[photo by Max Reeves] The oldest senior football ground in London has been bought by the local supporter-owned club and is set to become a permanent asset to the community of Forest Gate in East London. Clapton Community Football Club completed the purchase of the historic Old Spotted Dog Ground on 24 July 2020, following […]
Churchill’s White House saved by community buyout
[photo by Ed Nix taken at the start of the campaign in October 2019] The last remaining pub in the historic village of Bladon, Oxfordshire, has been saved by the local community. The White House has a strong connection one of Britain’s most famous and controversial leaders. Sir Winston Churchill, who was born in nearby […]