Share Offer Success! We're Moving Forward in Saving the Pub

We are now in a position to acquire, refurbish, and reopen the Ashendon village pub.

Overall Fundraising Status So far, we have raised £548,774. That’s 91% of our overall fundraising target of £600,000 to acquire, refurbish, and reopen the Ashendon pub as a community asset. This represents £300,000 in Community Ownership government funding, plus Community Share Offer funding of £246,290 and £2,484 through community fundraising events.

The Source of Support For the Share Offer We received 190+ membership applications. By volume of share applications, 54% came from outside Ashendon. 72% of the total share application value came from Ashendon residents. 28% came from our surrounding villages and beyond. This demonstrates strong support for preserving our local community, maintaining inter-village connectivity, and supporting UK village pubs.

Ongoing Fundraising Efforts While we surpassed our £200,000 minimum target for the Share Offer, our optimum target was £300,000. As such, we continue to fundraise through various avenues:

• Welcoming donations

• Pursuing further grants to support refurbishments that become available once the pub is under our ownership

• Exploring sponsorship opportunities

• Hosting small fundraising events

• Opening a waiting list for potential future share purchases during a designated 'share purchase window'.

Additional financial support will be crucial in enabling us to carry out more of the planned refurbishments, which will make the pub both more welcoming and operationally efficient. This, in turn, will enhance its appeal to prospective tenants and future patrons.

Progress on the Pub Acquisition

We have instructed solicitors to proceed with the acquisition

We have applied for a pub licence for the property

We have identified the most essential works and are lining up tradespeople

We have established a Register of Shareholders

We will be beginning our search for a tenant  (If you know of experienced and potentially interested tenants or interim managers, please do get in touch)

First General Meeting of Shareholders

We are planning our first meeting of Shareholders and look forward to welcoming many of you to The Society in person. We will announce the date, venue, and agenda shortly with at least one month’s notice.

Staying in touch

We will continue to keep you updated on our progress on our Facebook page. You can also email us with any questions about how you can support this initiative at ACPSLcommittee@gmail.com