We have few updates to share, on the following topics: 1) Financials, Grants and the new Total, 2) Pledges 3) News coverage.

1. Unfortunately the grants we had hoped to be eligeable for have not come through, and the Plunket Foundation is no longer offering £50k+£50k support to community businesses. Our local Authority is also not extending the lower level of support we have hoped for (£45k) so at the present time, so it looks unlikely that there will be any substantial support in buying the pub from external parties. We have therefore raised the Shareholder target to £300k, and the total we hope to borrow from either the Parish Council’s borrowing, or a commercial mortgage from £150k to £200k. This is a serious setback, and is unfortunately the cicumstances we find outselves in.

2. Pledges have had support from another 14 potential shareholders, bringing the total number of people supporting to 126, pleding a total of £121,100. If anyone was of a mind to increase their pledge, this would make a real difference - please message us directly on WhatsApp or by email to team@littleburypub.co.uk .

3. News coverage over the last few weeks has been terrific, and the combination of our campaign and the Ickleton Lion together has made some great front pages:

The Walden Local

“Littlebury and Ickleton villagers fight to save pubs” Villagers in Littlebury and Ickleton are raising money to save their community pubs from closure.

The Queen’s Head in Littlebury is one of three freeholds in the area listed for sale by Greene King, along with the Lion in Ickleton and the Saffron Hotel.

Chris Shucksmith, chair of the Littlebury Community Pub campaign, said: “After the loss of so many rural pubs, it is great that both Ickleton and Littlebury villages are actively campaigning to own and operate their pubs.

“What makes our Queen’s Head in Littlebury special is the great garden - one of the best in the area, and the central spot. We miss it!”

So far, around 120 supporters have pledged to buy approximately 2,400 shares in the pub in the first three months, which is around half of what the campaigners are hoping to raise from members of the community.

The Saffron Reporter

Essex CPRE - The Countryside charity Essex

We have few updates to share, on the following topics: 1) Pledges, 2) Parish Council, 3) Walden Local, 4) Beer raising equipment, 5) Business plan/accounts 6) Pub signs 7) Banner for the triangle.

1. Pledges have now made by 110 shareholders, for £116,450, which is very close to halfway of what we are looking to raise from shareholders. This includes 6 who have pledged since the festival last weekend. We have had good response from the flyer which has enjoyed a prominent position inside the Village Views for the last two months. If anyone was of a mind to increase their pledge, this would make a real difference - please message us directly on WhatsApp or by email to team@littleburypub.co.uk . Richard and I are working to send an email for each pledge to confirm the amount pledged.

2. We have had encouraging discussions with the Parish Council about a potential 1/3rd loan or stake in the pub being financed suing their ability to borrow from the government. We shared the draft business plan, some suggestions as to the legal arrangements, and followed up with draft accounts. We are hopefully due to hold another working group meeting before the September PC meeting.

3. The ‘Walden Local’ has offered to feature the campaign on the cover of their paper and ideally would like a photo of the pub with a gathering of local support outside - as they did for the Ickleton Lion campaign. We are proposing Sunday 1st September, 4pm for this - please come along.

4. Beer raising equipment Very sadly the brand new chillers and pipe-work in the QH cellar is all owned by Martons Carlsberg group (via. Innserve Ltd.) and this is excluded from the freehold sale of the pub. I have discussed the contractual arrangements with Carlsberg and we need to source at least 60% of the draught products sold from them in order to retain the equipment. In exchange they will service/repair faults etc. I have provisional beer pricing under this arrangement, which we will compare with non-contracted pricing. There is a buoyant used hand market for chillers to secure true open market beer rates, however we might not have the expertise or financing to take this on at the start. Also of note - the hand pumps for Ales (known as “beer engines”) have all been removed, and we need to budget around £1k to replace them. Separately the Cellar chillers are owned by GK, however we think it is likely they will remain in place.

5. Business plan/accounts we have circulated copies of our provisional figures to a few people who have emailed in (or asked on Whatsapp). The spreadsheet is …redacted.. We believe these figures are all reasonable, realistic and show a path to break-even even considering the costs of maintaining a listed building.

6. Pub signs we note that Green King have removed their signage from the front of the building. We don’t know why or if this is good news or not!

7. To help drum up support, we are considering a banner for the triangle opposite the pub. We can arrange this but we would like to know if there are any objections before hand. Richard has offered to sort the printing and I will come up some wording. Unfortunately we cannot affix to the site fencing of the pub itself, but this seems like a good spot to target passing traffic.

See you at the next Pop-up Pub this Friday, the 6th of September!

Update: What a fantastic group photo - Many Thanks Gordon

• Thanks for all of the very constructive discussions yesterday at our Polling Station stand. Adding up the pledges made on the day and after, we now have 94 potential shareholders, pledging to buy 2,342 shares, totalling £117,100
• Now that the General Election is over, we hope some of the fundraising opportunities that closed for the last month will again open for new applications.
• We have uploaded some behind-the-scenes photographs of the pub, including the cellar, guest rooms and rarely-seen tenant’s lodgings: https://photos.app.goo.gl/7Z5NUWZyhEpwJ7Zo7
• You may have seen we are running an ad in the Village Views.
• In the minutes of the June Littlebury Parish Council meeting, you may see that we have asked the PC to explore using the long-term financing available to them to consider taking a stake in the Queens Head. We are due to present the business case for this next week. We would like to thank the PC for their receptiveness to discuss this.
• Uttlesford District Council have responded to our enquiry regarding an extension of the e-bike rental scheme (between SW and Audley End) to the pub car park. The indicative costs are high, but it remains a possible option.
• The Village Hall Committee is running a Pop-up Pub this evening from 7pm, please come along.

A quick summary of last week, as we approach one month into the campaign:

• Pledges received now from 88 potential shareholders, pledging to buy 2,301 shares, totalling £115,050
• We submitted a summary of the first ~105 completed Questionnaires (without pledge info) to further our application to join The Plunkett Foundation, who are a not-for-profit who assist community projects with both fund raising and business planning.
• Nikhil has summarised the (varied and interesting) responses to Qu.12 “What would you change” and key themes are emerging for us to address.
• Negotiations with a local Chef to run the Kitchen are ongoing and productive, however our initial discussions with a Bar Manager for now have stalled.
• Jonathan has put together a Campaign Advertisement for the Village Views, appearing on page 3 this month, which should raise awareness in the wider parish.
• Our headline figures for the business so far have held up to scrutiny, we thank those who have reviewed them, particularly Felice & Carol. We believe there is a sound case for food, rooms and bar sales at usual margins to cover the operational and financing costs.
• We look forward to seeing more of the village on polling day outside the village hall, when we hope to share the figures and draft business plan.

See you at the next Pop-up Pub this Friday, the 5th of July!

Brief weekly update:

• Pledges have now crossed £100,000 from 71 potential shareholders.
• We have almost 100 completed questionnaires, which is should now satisfy the Plunket Foundation’s need to demonstrate sufficient community support to assign someone to work with our bid team.
• We have received expressions of interest from a local Chef, and also a potential tenant manager
• Headline figures are together for the business plan, and have had them reviewed by several people with connections in the trade.
• We are planning a small stand outside the Village Hall polling station on July 4th, for any Q&As.

As a community group, we have written to Uttlesford District Council to notify them that we wish to make a bid to purchase the freehold of the Queens Head. Uttlesford District Council have confirmed that the Full Moratorium is now in place until the 15th November 2024.

We were delighted to see the great turnout at the Village Hall yesterday for the pop-up pub event. Many thanks to those completing around 20 questionnaire responses on the night, and we know a similar number have been taken away to complete at home (the return address is in the footer). It would be wonderful to get those back to us this week.

If you would like to print and complete your own paper questionnaire the PDF can be opened here, or you can complete it online using Google Forms.

We would like to express our thanks to Dave and Tim joining us from Save The Railway Arms Pub (STRAP) for answering many of the questions raised, and to the Village Hall Committee, for running the event.

A recap on what we’ve done so far:

• Taken advice from The Plunket Foundation, formed a CLG company and held the first directors meeting.
• Researched the ACV process and drafted a notice of community bidder
• Registered this website and started developing it, setup email and socials
• Spoken with the estate agent Tom, and visited the tenants lodgings
• Spoken with two regional pub-buying businesses (Cambscusine and Chestnut group; who have ruled out acquiring the pub, have outlined costs etc)
• Researched pub ownership models, fundraising and case studies of similar pubs
• Met with the Village Hall Committee to agree representation at the pop-up pub
• Discussed some outline sketches for improving the pub grounds, and reviewed historical planning applications
• Spoken with members of Littlebury Parish Council
• Started brainstorming a business plan
• Received responses to our questionnaire and started to look at the results.

In partnership with the Village Hall Committee, we will hold a ‘Pop-up Pub’ event at Littlebury Village Hall at 7pm, Friday the 7th of June. This will be an opportunity to discuss the sale of the pub and viability of a community bid in detail.

We have also created an announce-only WhatsApp group, which you can join by clicking here or scanning this QR code with your phone:

The current tenants of the Queens Head, Dan and Anna, have closed up for the last time at 4pm Sunday, the 26th May. We wish them, their family, and staff the very best of luck for the future.

Everard and Cole have been appointed by Green King to sell the Queens Head. As the public house is registered with Uttlesford District Council as an Asset of Community Value, the potential sale triggers a 30-day Interim moratorium period which will end on the 25th June 2024.

During this time, any community group can give written notice that they are a potential bidder, which will trigger the 180-day Full Moratorium period ending on the 25th Nov 2024.