Update 30th September 2020

Campaign news

A quick update from The Steering Group on the progress of our campaign. We have had fantastic support so far and we continue to see some really good fundraising activities. The bit we are all waiting for is the share sale. We are sorry that this has taken longer to organise than we hoped but we are getting very close now and should be able to open it in the coming weeks. We thank you for your patience, the support we are able to generate for the share sale will be crucial. 

Bidders

Since the White Horse has been on the market we have been spoken to by a number of people with the experience to own and run it as an excellent pub, but none of them has managed to make any progress with a bid. This week the owner introduced us to a gentleman by the name of Jonathan Bowers who he says is a potential buyer. Having done due diligence we understand that he is a property developer from Sussex with no obvious background in the pub trade. Even though a sale is not permitted until January, this has convinced us more than ever that a strong community bid is the only way to secure the future of the pub. John Lloyd indicated that he is still very happy to receive a bid from the community, but even if it is sold to someone else the strength of community support will be a consideration if there is an application to convert the pub to housing. We still have a bit of red tape to negotiate before we can finalise our business plan, get endorsement from the Plunkett Foundation and then get that share sale up and running, but be assured we are sparing no effort to achieve that as soon as possible.