In an email sent out on behalf of the committee which was seeking to buy the pub for the community it was stated that: “Unfortunately, the total pledged excluding that from Les Jones himself amounted to less than £60,000. This is well short of the £300,000 that we would need to purchase the pub…”
The email continues: “There is no realistic prospect of significant further pledges.” As a result: “the committee has made the decision that the community cannot be involved in the renovation or running of the pub…”
It goes on to say: “Having put in some 2000 hours of voluntary time over the past 18 months the committee is obviously very disappointed with this position. However we have successfully prevented development of the pub and it is now owned by a local resident who has its best interests at heart.”