Villagers hit target to buy village pub but warn more money is needed

VILLAGERS who launched a fundraising drive to buy their countryside pub have reached their £220,000 target – but warned more investment is needed to make the business viable again.
By The Newsroom
Published 12th Feb 2010, 08:24 BST
Updated 12th Feb 2010, 08:24 BST

Fundraisers had called for an 11th hour push to secure the money needed to buy the George and Dragon in Hudswell, near Richmond in North Yorkshire.

A deadline had been set for the end of January by the bank which had taken on the ownership of the pub and while villagers had managed to secure almost 200,000 themselves, fears were growing that they could fail to raise the full amount.

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However, Key Fund Yorkshire, an organisation which specialises in supporting community enterprises, pledged to invest 20,000 to help reopen the pub.

Hudswell Community Pub (HCP) chairman, Paul Cullen, said: "With only a dew days to go to our deadline we were still 40,000 short, but then when we heard that the Key Fund was going to buy 20,000 of shares – the maximum allowed – we knew we would do it.

"Sure enough the rest came in over the following few days and we have signed the contract and next week the pubwill be ours."

However, the secretary of the HCP, Martin Booth, stressed more investment will be needed to equip the pub before it can re-open.

Related topics:VillagersNorth Yorkshire