Own a Share of a Village Pub!

The Tax Man may even help you!

Share Offer Closes on July 14th 2018

Participate in the community buyout of The Thorold Arms and you will have assisted the villages of Hougham and Marston, amounting to only 210 households, to buy their pub and shop from a developer. The money is being raised through a community share offer. 

This share offer has been awarded the Community Shares Standard Mark and is compatible with HMRC rules for their Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS). Qualifying shares come with a nice refund for taxpayers once the business is trading.

However, time is running out to raise the initial £210,000 needed to acquire the pub. Hence our plea for your help.

Beyond acquisition, a further £200,000 will be needed to renovate and refurbish the pub, which was pretty much stripped bare when it closed and has been empty and unloved for 3 years.

Having had detailed discussions with various funding bodies, we have just received 2 excellent pieces of news. Provided we raise the initial £210,000 to buy the pub:

• The Plunkett Foundation‘s “More Than a Pub” scheme will provide a £50,000 grant to back a £50,000 commercial loan on very reasonable terms.
• And on the strength of that offer, the Community Shares Booster Programme has invited us to apply for a £100,000 matching equity investment.

The pub is in rural Lincolnshire close to the towns of Grantham and Newark, a mile or so from the A1, and on the Viking Way national footpath. It lies in classic Lincolnshire countryside close to the River Witham. This is prime “let’s go out for a pub meal” territory. There are several highly successful pubs in the area and there is no intrinsic reason for this pub to be any less successful.

The renovations will include an excellent 2 bedroom flat to enable an experienced managing couple to be hired. A friendly face, quality produce and good value will be the key to sustained success. Investors will share in the pub’s success by way of interest payments. These are currently projected in the business plan at 3%.

The share offer prospectus & application form and business plan are available to download from the website Document Store, along with all other available documentation. If you support the ideal but do not want shares we would be delighted to receive a donation through our donate button above and to the right.

If you would like further information, the names and contact details of the committee members are in the literature or you can get in touch through the website Contact page. We can post you a printed prospectus and application form – just send us your address.

We look forward to hearing from you and seeing you soon in the pub!