So much goes on in Sidbury

By viewing this blog most will no doubt have an interest in Sidbury village, as well as its pub, the Red Lion. To have a look at what is going on in Sidbury over the next 3 weeks go to the  information packed village website at http://www.sidbury.org.uk/

In the village over the next few weeks you can take part in, or just relax and watch, games of rounders. Additionally, you can support the village cricket team as they play their next few matches. All of these pre-supposes that the weather will return to something like Spring! You can even support a local coffee morning in aid of the Children's Society - volunteers will be supplying refreshments, so show them and the charity your support! There's even a social evening.

If all of this isn't enough to show what a busy set of lives Sidbury villagers have, then the village website can show you all of the local societies and clubs, along with information about who to contact, and how to do so, should you be tempted to get involved in something locally. Go on give something new a try!

The village website (many thanks!) also has listed this Sunday's open meeting for local residents which has been called to discuss setting up a campaign group and a steering group to take steps to retain the Red Lion as an asset for the community. To remind you - the meeting is on  Sunday 19 May at 12.30pm in the pub's skittle alley. Come one, come all!

If you have yet to print off and display the poster - please do! -advertising the open meeting you can access it by following this link http://sites.google.com/site/thepubinthevillage/ThePubInTheVillageMeetingNotice19.5.13.pdf

Red Lion's owners Punch Taverns face defaulting on debt

Punch Taverns, which owns the Red Lion and 4,000 other pubs (1 in 10 of all pubs around the country) has been struggling for some while now under crippling debt. According to the Mail on Sunday and the Publican's Morning Advertiser (pub trade paper) there is now the possibility of the pub group defaulting on its debt repayments and going into administration, thus potentially leading to the break up of the company.

Punch Tavens carries £2.4bn of debt and according to the press reporting negotiations between Punch Taverns and its debt holders are approaching stalemate. Punch Taverns is understood to want to reach an agreement with them by the end of June or the company could default on its payments. This could lead to a process in which a receiver would be appointed who could chose to sell or close pubs to pay back the debt. Punch Taverns recorded a £16.7m pre-tax loss for the six months up to the end of March. As a sign of its problems Punch Taverns Chief Executive left in February.

Alternatively, the company could be forced to agree a pre-pack,which is a form of agreed insolvency, in which the company would be declared bust and its assets (including its pubs) transferred to new owners in a single step.

All in all, the signs for Punch Taverns, which have not been good for some time now, look pretty dire. This can only add to the pressure on Punch Taverns to sell or close those pubs, like the Red Lion, that they have already put up for sale. This demonstrates that there is no time to lose to start to campign to ensure that under some form of ownership, that looks increasingly clear not to be Punch Taverns, the Red Lion is retained as the pub in the village.

The links to the articles in the Daily Mail and the Publican's Morning Advertiser can be found -

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/markets/article-2323077/Punch-Taverns-face-break-talks-debt-hit-wall.html

http://www.morningadvertiser.co.uk/Company-City-News/Punch-could-face-break-up-as-talks-over-debt-hit-wall

A discussion paper for those concerned to retain the Red Lion

This paper (link below) looks at possible options for retaining, & campaigning to retain, the Red Lion, should a potential owner who wants to retain it as a pub, not materialise. This discussion paper is offered to create discussion amongst those who are passionate about the need for Sidbury to continue to have its own pub in the heart of the village.

This discussion paper looks at what steps residents could take to keep the Red Lion as a pub. It also considers some alternative ownership models should a buyer, or a consortium of buyers, not come forward to seek to run the Red Lion as a viable pub business. Finally, the paper looks at steps that could be taken to campaign to retain the Red Lion as a pub - the first step being an open meeting (19 May) to try to establish a steering group to build a campaign.

This paper does not profess to identify all of the issues, or all of the options, or all of the steps for campaigning. It is designed to ignite debate amongst those who care about retaining the Red Lion in the heart of the village. Please read & if it interests you print it off & share it with your friends.

http://sites.google.com/site/thepubinthevillage/RedLionOptionsFinal2.pdf

If it ignites your interest, then come to the open meeting - 19 May at 12.30pm in the skittle alley, Red Lion.

Poster For Open Meeting - 19 May

Please download & print the poster advertising the open meeting being held on 19 May to start to discuss how we can campaign to retain the Red Lion as the pub in Sidbury. Please put the poster up in a prominent position http://sites.google.com/site/thepubinthevillage/ThePubInTheVillageMeetingNotice19.5.13.pdf

An open meeting to set up a campaign steering group

An Open Meeting - Sunday 19 May - Skittle Alley, Red Lion

As a first step in creating a campaign to retain the Red Lion as the pub in the heart of the village a meeting open to all who want to see it remain as the village pub is being held on 19 May at 12.30pm in the skittle alley at the Red Lion. The meeting is open to anyone who is concerned that they may lose the Red Lion as the village pub.

It is hoped that out of this meeting there can be a steering group formed to start to consider what needs to be done to ensure that the pub is actually retained as a pub, and that it does not get sold and a change of use application pursued by any new owner.

It is also hoped that a steering group can also look at various alternative ownership models that could be considered if the pub does not find a buyer who is able/willing to turn it into a thriving village pub. Over the next day or so a discussion paper on various options that could be considered will be posted here.

So, if you have any interest at all in retaining the Red Lion as Sidbury's village pub come along and have your say. Your ideas about what we can do to retain the Red Lion will be most welcome.

Please tell anyone who you think might be intersted in this open meeting - and come along yourself!

Hurrah!

It looks as if the comment boxes on the site are now working.

Sorry!

Having encouraged visitors to this site to leave messages it is now clear that we have a problem! For some reason the site is not allowing comments to be posted in a straight forward way.

As you would expect from a site of this quality we have an army of highly experienced techie geeks beavering away night & day to fix this glich. Ok, so that was a slight over statement of the reality! Steps are being taken to try to understand what we have done, presumably to the site's settings, that has caused this problem. Rest assured we are trying to figure out how to make this site interactive. So apologies.

If you do want to leave any comments then please use the email account -
ThePubInTheVillage@gmail.com