The residents of a small Pembrokeshire village are celebrating reaching a goal towards purchasing their local pub.
After setting a target to raise £175,000 by May 31 to purchase the Crymych Arms, villagers were delighted to hit £191,000 within 8 weeks of launching their community share offer on April 1.
The target of £175,000 was set as the level needed to continue with their efforts to buy the public house that has been shut for 18 months.
The local football club that was only established three years ago has led on the initiative by registering the football club as a mutual society cooperative to then issue shares in raising the funds to buy the local pub to reopen it as a community hub and also as the new club house, so a pub, that's a club and a hub - a Pubclubhub!
The football committee members are now awaiting the outcomes of grant funding bids to clinch all the finance needed to buy and reopen the community ‘Pubclubhub’ by this August.
Several hundred people have bought the £100 shares and many buying them as gifts for those who support the idea of community owned pubs but also many football supporters are buying shares to support local grassroot sports.
By buying a share people will not only own part of a pub but also be owners of a football club as it is shares in football club that will be used to buy the historic North Pembrokeshire pub.
The full asking price of the closed pub is £275,000 and the committee of the football club will continue to accept new members wishing to buy the £100 shares.
Anyone interested in the venture and fancy being a co-owner of a pub and football club can visit: www.cpdcrymych.cymru for the share offer prospectus and read about the community investment offering 3% gross interest per year.
The next public meeting that is open to anyone who wishes to know more about the community venture will be on Wednesday, June 14 at 7 pm at Crymych Market Hall.
