The Share Offer remains open but the decision to buy the pub or abandon the project must be made no later than 27th July.

We are now less than £10k away from crossing the line and being able to proceed.

If you wish to invest or raise the level of your application to help take us over the line then please do so soon, 28th July is too late

For more information on current position see below.

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Position Statement

The current situation and decision on the future of the George is determined by the Funding strategy.

You will see from the Share Offer Prospectus that the income for purchase, rebuild and associated costs is ‘largely derived from share income and grants’.

The principal grant income is identified as an award by the Heritage Lottery Fund.  We submitted an application for £998,000 to meet their deadline of 25th May and we have been informed the result will be known by the end of September.

For the application to be eligible we need to own the pub and have commenced execution of the Option to Buy in July.  Completion of the purchase will then take a maximum of 28 working days, but could be much less.

The gap between the funds required and HLF grant will be met by Community Shares and other grants   Potential other grants have been identified and are included in the HLF application.

Regarding Community Shares we targeted £300,000 as this is typical for other Community Pubs. However in the Share Offer Prospectus you will see that we set a minimum of £100,000. On reaching that amount we will issue shares to all applicants and continue with the project including further share sales.  The gap between what we raise in shares and the £300,000 is intended to be covered from other funding sources.  On reaching £100,000 of share investment we will be eligible to apply to the Share Booster Fund for a matching share purchase which could, if successful, double that share investment.

Because of the HLF grant application our decision day is 27th July and it can go one of two ways.  If we have received monies for applications amounting to £100,000 or above we will proceed with the Option to Buy, and if the minimum hasn’t been met we will have to close down the project and the future of the site will be a matter for the owner and SCDC.  In the latter situation all monies from share applicants will be returned to them.

As of today (13th July) we have received 262 share applications and are now 90% there and within £10,000 of the minimum required to proceed.

If you wish to invest or raise the level of your application to help take us over the line then please do so soon, 28th July is too late.

For further information, including risk factors, please see the Share Offer Prospectus which can be found by clicking here.