Red Lion Purchase - Almost There

We are very pleased to inform you that Punch Taverns have positively responded to Sidbury Community Enterprises’ offer to purchase the Red Lion. This offer has been the subject to a number of discussions with Punch Taverns in recent weeks and we have now arrived at the point where we expect to receive a formal acceptance during the next week.

Whilst this is a very significant point in the campaign that has been running since last May and has been achieved by a lot of hard work by members of the Steering Group and other who have advised it, there still remains much more to be done to actually reach an outright purchase of the pub.

A large amount of funding now needs to be raised in order to reach a point whereby the pub’s ownership can transfer to Sidbury Community Enterprises. Over forthcoming weeks details of this will be circulated across the village and within the Sid Valley. Achieving the successful ownership of the Red Lion will require obtaining a mortgage and/or loans, as well as raising funds through a share offer.

Work is under way in discussing with a commercial lender the terms of a potential mortgage. In addition we will be launching a share offer which will allow individuals or organisations to invest between £50 and £20,000 in Sidbury Community Enterprises. We are working out the timetable for promoting this and will publicise it in the coming weeks. Equally, we are open to offers from any individuals or organisations which are willing to make a loan to Sidbury Community Enterprises, either on a short term or longer term basis.

We have issued our vision for turning the Red Lion into a community village pub for Sidbury and its community, and we have received some positive feedback to this, along with some excellent ideas about using the pub for broader community based activities. With the expectation that Punch Taverns will soon formally accept our offer, we have to turn all of attention to raising the funds to purchase the pub, funding the start-up costs of the new business and undertaking the necessary upgrading works to the pub.

Without strong local support in purchasing shares in the new Red Lion business this project will falter at the final hurdle. Please actively support the share offer once it is announced in the forthcoming weeks. We need your investments and your continuing support.

Please respond positively to our share offer in forthcoming weeks as we cannot let this exciting opportunity slip from our grasp.