Save The Kings Arms, Cleeve Prior

03/06/2025

As you may be aware, the sale of the Kings Arms has, unfortunately, been completed. The Management Committee of the Community Benefit Society is currently working on preparing reconciled accounts and will announce an Investors meeting very shortly. In the meantime, we have informed the grant awarding bodies that we will not be in a position to use these funds and that they can be allocated to other worthy causes.
We would also, at this time, like to sincerely thank the very many people from within the village and beyond for their support over the past 18 months, who we are sure share our disappointment with this quite unnecessary outcome.

11/03/2025

Apologies for the short notice but if you wish to show your support for the SAVE THE KINGS ARMS Community purchase there is a photo opportunity with the Evesham Observer at 5.00pm TODAY, 11th March outside the pub.

Can I also remind you of the public meeting later this evening at the village hall at 7pm. ALL WELCOME

07/03/2025

Dear Friends of the Kings Arms,
Following recent developments where our accepted bid to purchase the Kings Arms has been derailed, the Management Team of the Cleeve Prior Community Pub Limited, Community Benefit Society invite you to a public meeting on Tuesday 11th March at 7.00pm in the village hall to discuss our options and next steps.
Regards
Brian Williams
Chair Cleeve Prior Community Pub Limited Community Benefit Society

04/03/2025

Community purchase of Kings Arms threatened!

After 15 months of hard work, overcoming many obstacles, the Community Benefit Society was delighted when we were successful in our grant applications and share sales. This allowed us to submit an offer to purchase the Kings Arms in January 2025. This was accepted, providing a once in a lifetime opportunity to secure the Kings Arms as a vibrant community asset for future generations.
This has now been jeopardised by a higher bid from a third party, who, we are told, is known to the village. This has been accepted by the owner.
The CBS find it difficult to understand how someone who knows the village would derail the community's project to secure the Kings Arms.
We are continuing to fight and will keep you informed of the final outcome.
Brian Williams
Chair Cleeve Prior Community Pub Limited Community Benefit Society

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.

12/01/2025

Hear the recent BBC Hereford & Worcester radio interview on the campaign to Save the Kings Arms

Villagers in Cleeve Prior have raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for the Kings Arms.

07/01/2025

Happy New Year!

Our latest Public Meeting providing an update on our campaign to save the Kings Arms will take place in the Village Hall at 2.00pm this Saturday 11th January.

We will provide the latest news on our offer to buy the freehold, our discussions with the COF providers, progress on our Community Share Offer etc.

If you are unable to attend, may I request that if you have not fulfilled your previous pledges, then please do so as soon as possible. Any additional investment would be welcomed.

As a community, we are so close to achieving our goal of securing the Kings Arms for future generations.

We do need to maximise the capital raised from our Share Offer - as always your support is greatly appreciated!

Best wishes

Brian Williams
Chair Cleeve Prior Community Pub Limited, Community Benefit Society

31/12/2024

Happy new year to all our supporters of the Kings Arms, Cleeve Prior.

Make your new years resolution to help us secure the future of the Kings Arms pub for the community for years to come and make it the community pub and hub that we all want.

After being granted the COF grant this is the final to push to raise the last £55,000. Please invest in this historic pub NOW!

For more information and the share ownership documents can be found on the following link

https://cleevepriorcommunitypub.co.uk/docs.php

23/12/2024

SUCCESS!!

Exciting news regarding the campaign to take the Kings Arms into community ownership. As announced on the Government website, our application for £250,000 capital plus £50,000 revenue funding from the Community Ownership Fund has been successful!. Only 3 other pubs nationwide have been awarded funding!

It is now essential that we as a community are successful in raising the minimum share capital target of our Community Share Offer. This was £175,000. Currently we have sold shares to the value of £120,000. If you have not yet confirmed your investment in our project then please do so as soon as possible! If you already have invested and can possibly invest more then this will also be great. If you can share these details with all your friends and family far and wide - they too can invest in a little bit of history!

WE REALLY NEED YOUR INVESTMENT NOW. I have attached the application form below.

https://cleevepriorcommunitypub.co.uk/docs.php

Could all of us at the Cleeve Prior Community Pub wish you all a Happy Christmas and a healthy and community spirited New Year!

Brian Williams
Chair Cleeve Prior Community Pub Limited Community Benefit Society

08/08/2024

The Kings Arms continues to be marketed For Sale by its current owners. In the meantime, and without ownership or significant investment, any management team would struggle to create an environment that can attract and retain customers. That appears to be the case at the moment, despite best endeavours.

But with ownership, investment in the building fabric, an interior upgrade, and a sustainable plan for the future comes change, and your pub can be whatever you want it to be.

Use it or lose it. Buy shares and improve it.

Your pub needs you.

The "Save the Kings Arms" campaign has registered as a Community Benefit Society with the Financial Conduct Authority (registration number 9205). This is a democratic, socially responsible form of governance for the benefit of the community as a whole. A Community Benefit Society is by far the most....

26/07/2024

Dear Friends of the Kings Arms,

Following the result of the General Election our MP Nigel Huddlestone retained his seat. We have written to him and his parliamentary secretary Helen Macmillan and asked them to keep us informed on whether the previous administration's Community Ownership Fund will be continued or replaced with a different scheme. We were pleased when we received their immediate response confirming their ongoing support for our project. I have also written personally to Angela Rayner as Minister for Housing, Communities etc and asked about the new Government's intention regarding support for communities trying to save vital assets by taking them into community ownership. We await her response with interest!

Meanwhile, although we already extended the Share Offer to the end of July, because of the uncertainty above, the Management Committee have decided to further extend the Share Offer to at least the 31st August 2024. Currently we have received £107,000 which means we are still well short of our target of £200,000. We are in the process of issuing Share Certificates to all investors.

We are investigating alternative sources of funding and organised a presentation by a business adviser from the Plunkett Foundation to our Parish Council where the feasibility of applying for a long term loan from the Public Works Loan Board was discussed. The Parish Council will speak with other organisations who have gone down this pathway as part of this feasibility study.
However, to be clear, whichever route we go down, the community have to show their unambiguous support for the campaign. This means that we must reach the target of £200K from our Community Share Offer which is modest in comparison with sums raised by other similar sized villages/communities. Therefore please make your investments now. If the project does not proceed these will be returned to you in full.
The Management Committee are also concerned by the conspicuous lack of support for the pub at present. We need to understand the reasons for this to ensure that when we acquire the pub we provide the service offer which the village can support. In the coming weeks we will publish a survey asking for your frank and open views on exactly what you want from the Kings Arms moving forward.
In the meantime feel free to send your comments to our website or me personally.
Regards
Brian Williams
Chair Cleeve Prior Community Pub Limited