9th November 2018
Windsor Express: “Group puts in its bid to buy pub” by Kieran Bell on Friday 9th November 2018.
Transcription
Group puts in its bid to buy pub
Clewer: Swan investors’ meeting update on ‘key moment’ by Kieran Bell, kieranb@baylismedia.co.uk, @KieranB_BM
Speed read… A community group has put in a formal bid to purchase The Swan pub in Clewer. Campaigners say this is a ‘key moment’ in the project.
A community group looking to save The Swan has put in a bid to purchase the pub.
The watering hole in Mill Lane has been closed for two years and was put up for sale by the Wellington Pub Company in April.
Campaigners made up of business investors and residents formed The Swan Clewer Community Interest Company (CIC) in an effort to buy the pub and turn it into a community hub.
It was given a six-month window to put an offer in before the pub would be placed on the open market, after it was registered as an Asset of Community Value by the Royal Borough in May.
That six-month window runs out tomorrow (Saturday), but campaigners announced at an investors’ meeting on Tuesday they have launched a formal bid to purchase the freehold after agreeing a mortgage offer with Triodos Bank.
The group is now waiting to find out if the vendor will accept the offer, which could take six to eight weeks.
Plans to save The Swan started with Richard Allen, executive head of The Green Room School in Windsor, and Willie Calvert, of the Windsor & Eton Brewery.Mr Calvert said: “It is quite a key moment in the project. It may take weeks, but whatever happens, we have it to within that six months.“
He also confirmed at the meeting that £130,000 has now been raised towards the group’s £200,000 target to start refurbishments.
The gathering gave investors the chance to meet people behind the project. There were concerns that The Swan has regularly struggled for trade, but Mr. Calvert rebuffed this worry.
“Community pubs always trade better, and it is because customers own the place,” he said.
“Developments happening effectively give it more trading opportunity.
“West Windsor has about 60 per cent of Windsor’s population, and how many pubs has it got? It has got a very good chance of working.”