12/01/2025
Dear Friends of the Kings Arms
Thanks for your support! The meeting above was very well attended with over 40 attendees, despite the freezing weather and treacherous conditions underfoot, and as always very supportive of our campaign! It was encouraging to see many new faces including investors from Stratford and Wixford.
Brian Williams, Chair of the Community Benefit Society, opened the meeting by confirming that we had received confirmation that our application for a Community Ownership Fund grant had been successful, and that subject to final verification we would be receiving £250,000 capital funding towards the cost of purchasing the freehold of all land and buildings of the Kings Arms plus £50,000 Revenue funding which will be used towards costs associated with the purchase, and operational costs during the transition period after completion of the sale.
As a result of this grant award, I explained that we would no longer be pursuing the alternative funding option of applying for a PWLB loan through Cleeve Prior Parish Council which was introduced at the last meeting on the 14th December. Not having to cover the high loan repayments means that the future profit and loss accounts of the business will be far more achievable and sustainable.
Furthermore, Gareth Williams, Vice Chair and Estates manager, then informed the meeting that he had been in direct negotiation with the selling agents, Sydney Phillips and the owner Mr. Brian Thorpe and that the Community Benefit Society had submitted a formal offer to purchase the freehold of the Kings Arms which had been accepted. We have instructed solicitors and will be arranging all necessary surveys.
The two processes of contract negotiation and grant award verification will now run in parallel. The time scale for this first phase is 4 - 6 weeks.
BW then updated the meeting on the progress of the Community Share Offer. Since the last meeting and subsequent confirmation of grant funding, share purchases have once more started to accelerate so that the current total has now reached £131,000. BUT, this is still £44,000 below our minimum target of £175,000. I urged all those who had not fulfilled their previous pledges to do so as soon as possible. I also encouraged people to send application forms to friends and family to broaden the reach of our appeal to as wide an audience as possible.
There followed a lively Q & A session during which time the first Customer Satisfaction Survey was distributed which the audience was asked to complete and return before leaving. This survey will be distributed electronically to all Members of the CBS (i.e. shareholders) next week.
