Project Overview
The Barge Inn Honey Street is an internationally reknowned historic canalside public house and camping site.
It is also hailed as the 'official site for the discerning Crop Circle Investigator' and the hamlet that is called 'Honey Street' is a product of the Kennet and Avon Canal. The pub has been and remains an integral part of the community whether they are locals, canal communities or the international crop circle communities.
The pub is up for sale and like many pubs in the United Kingdom is at risk of closure. The Barge Inn Community Project is all about saving, retaining and developing the Barge Inn as a community enterprise.
Project Progress- Being updated
A community group has been formed and public meetings held. This has given the endorsement to progress with a project to test whether it was possible for the community to own the business.
Finance was obtained from Kennet District Council to cover the costs of a Feasibility Study and eventually Facilitating People Ltd was briefed to undertake the work. Pinders, specialist commercial valuers were commissioned by Facilitating People Ltd to value the business as a leasehold purchase..
The general market in respect of the licence and catering trade is slack and it is assumed that 2009 and onwards may be tougher.
There are opportunities for additional complimentary initiatives that would enhance the destination and increase the numbers of spending visitors. These for the present are not included as there is a wish to develop the core business first.
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Subject to the price negotiated from the lessees it was planned to explore the setting up a social enterprise to purchase the lease and manage the Barge Inn. The funding could be by a share or bond offer. This method would raise the capital but allow repayment should insufficient monies be raised.
Subsiquently an application was made to the Big Lottery Fund under their Village SOS Programme. The group were successful with this first stage application along with 28 other villages across the UK. This gave them a £10,000 grant to develop further a business plan that forms the second stage application to the lottery. After that date they were subject to a further appraisal that finished with them being one of 10 winning projects!!
See the General News pages for the update.
Benefits from the Project
Tourism
The tourism multiplier effect – Tourism not only creates jobs in the tertiary sector, it also encourages growth in the primary and secondary sectors of the industry. This multiplier effect can be measured and will show simply how many times money spent by a tourist circulates through the local economy.
Should the pub close there will be a negative effect to the current multiplier. The business improving will by contrast improve the multiplier.
Employment
Should the pub close this will reduce the employment directly and indirectly in the area.
Should the project progress with additional offers this will grow FTE’s in the area and increased local spend from salaries earned in the area.
Economic Spend
The average spend in the countryside by visitors is over £13.00 per visit. Visits are determined by destinations and the location for spending and it can be assumed the Barge, the Canal and the crop circle landscapes are an attractive destination.
Local Capacity
The principle of growing local capacity is widely acknowledged as a positive factor in gaining flourishing sustainable communities . This locally led project can be the ‘glue’ that holds together the people of the area whilst improving their quality of life.
Feasibility Assessment
In undertaking the feasibility assessment the following have been used as the key components.
- Community engagement- Is the project meeting community aspirations and ambitions
- Project team- Has the team a track record and competencies to lead and deliver.
- Social objectives – can the project gain interest and enthusiasm to raise financial support
- Viable business model – is the model capable of generating sufficient to pay a return and is this affordable, balanced and realistic and therefore achievable.
- Risks - Should the project progress have all risks been considered and can they be managed.
The ‘Communities of Interest’ are wide reaching and can be considered international through the canal and crop circles links The resident profile of the area is prosperous and given the project engagement is not within a given geographic area.
To date there has only been two local public meetings which have shown local endorsement but there will be a need to communicate with a wider public.
However ‘the place’ that is the Barge Inn is internationally renowned because of historic connections with the Kennet and Avon Canal and the Crop Circles. This wide community of interest is a major strength.
Project Team The team is in place with enthusiasm and skills to develop the plan and project. There will be the need to grow those skills as well as ‘purchase in’ further skills as the project advances.
With the addition of development partners (PACT, Community First, Wiltshire County etc) the project team can deliver.
The social objectives of the concept of ‘the pub is the hub’ is well proven and tested. The target community grouping is identified and with little risk can be engaged
High levels of communication will be required to sell the benefits of the project to the full community grouping. Additional project support should be draw from the various contacts.
TheBusiness Plan identifies the business to be sustainable.
There is the opportunity to offer a wide range of amounts people may wish to invest. This is possible because of the large and diverse communities of interest. The finances can be spread across a variety of sources – community shares, loans, grants.
The ideal model for the organisation would be a Industrial and Provident Society as this gives the structure and governance and the ability to raise capital from a community share or bond offer. This can be done in a way that the funds are raised in advance of the purchase so testing the community commitment.
The timescales will be determined by the ease of the funding and of course the negotiations with the lessees and landlords. WE ARE N SIGHT OF THE FINISH LINE!!!