BUYING SHARES IN OUR COMMUNITY SOCIETY
IT’S REALLY EASY TO INVEST!
Please read our Business Plan and our Share Offer Prospectus below before you invest in our Society.
Once done download the share application form below, print it out and either:
Send the completed form and a cheque, payable to the Chequer Inn Ash Society Society Limited, to the address below;
OR
Send the completed form to the address below and make an online payment to the Chequer Inn Ash Society Society Limited.
There are full instructions (including the Society’s bank account details) on the share application form but the mailing address is:
The Chequer Inn Ash Society, Young’s Cottage, 28 The Street, Ash, Canterbury, Kent CT3 2EW.
ATTENTION TO ANY NEW SHAREHOLDERS
If you are not currently a member of the Chequer Inn Ash Society, and you are applying for new shares then please don’t forget to register your name and email address by using the link on the following page:
savethechequerinn.co.uk/shareholders
WHO CAN INVEST
Anyone can invest who is over 18 and interested in ensuring the future of the Chequer Inn in Ash. Obviously we hope to have a large number of investors from residents of Ash and the surrounding villages – but you are welcome to invest wherever you live.
WHAT WE NEED TO RAISE
In order to be able to open for business, we need to raise £485,000 in total to purchase the pub, cover all the associated costs like essential repairs, refurbishments and start-up costs.
To proceed with the bid, we need to raise a minimum of £325,000. We would like as much as possible this amount to come from the share offer, as the money we don’t raise from community investment, will need to be financed by a commercial mortgage (under negotiation) on which we will have to pay interest.
The more capital we can raise through the community share offer, the less debt will have to be repaid, so all the better for the future of the pub. We might also get some grant funding from the Plunkett Foundation.
However loans and grants cannot be guaranteed at this stage and we have not relied on them in our budgeting.
SAVE THE CHEQUER INN OFFER
The full details of the offer are listed in the Share Offer Prospectus, which you can download by clicking on the link above.
Target: £485,000
Minimum to be raised for the offer to proceed: £325,000
Investing in: The Chequer Inn Ash Society Limited
Share offer opens: Friday 10th March 2017
Share offer closes: Tuesday 18th April 2017
Price per share: £100
Minimum investment: £100
Maximum investment: £100,000
Return: up to 2% above Bank of England base rate (see share offer for more details)
Membership: One member, one vote
Buying shares in the Chequer Inn Ash Society Limited will make you a member of the Society, with an equal vote regardless of your shareholding. Your involvement thereafter can be as much or as little as you wish. You can vote at Annual Members Meetings, stand for election to the Management Committee, volunteer your skills or just give The Chequer Inn your custom.
HELP US REACH OUR TARGET
We would like to see as many people as possible invest to save the Chequer Inn for the community. Please tell friends, neighbours and anyone you know who might be interested in the share offer and email them this link to invest: www.savethechequerinn.co.uk
The earlier you invest, the more likely we are to succeed.
More information on what community shares are and what to expect when you buy them can be found here.
SHARE OFFER FAQs
What happens to the money raised by selling the shares in CIAS?
What happens if you do not raise sufficient funds to buy the Pub?
When will my money be refunded if the purchase of the Chequer Inn does not proceed?
If I have bought multiple shares why do I only have one vote?
I think the pub closed because people did not support it enough, what makes you think it will be different this time?
They close for several reasons. Firstly, because Pub Companies (who own the freehold on many pubs) increase the rent applied to any tenant who is being successful. Pubcos can also increase the amount they charge for the beer particularly when there is a ‘tie’ to a brewery. Secondly, Pubcos have seen that they can raise capital buy selling off poorly performing pubs. They then appoint unsuitable or inexperienced tenants and then allow them to fail. Where the atmosphere is unfriendly, with limited drinks if any available, and opening times that are erratic a pub business is bound to fail. Many Ash villagers will remember this cycle in the Chequer Inn prior to its closure in 2014.
This will not happen if we buy and run The Chequer Inn. We will charge the tenant a fair rent. Our community pub will be a meld of traditional pub, café, snack bar, restaurant and social centre and thus have appeal to a wider clientele than hitherto.
The fate is sitting on property value estate which is worth more money to the Pub Co to sell for housing development. Finally any pub MUST serve good pub food and be open beyond licensing hours with café facilities to survive.
I am not keen to get involved with saving the Pub because as I don’t think a pub can be successful run by a committee and volunteers?
The business plan makes clear the preferred model for running the Pub business. This is by appointing an experienced tenant to run the pub business. As shareholders you will have a voice and a part to play in the Management committee which will be responsible for the building and liaising with the tenant. There may well be opportunities to volunteer in the pub but this is NOT compulsory.
The new management committee will make plans as to what skills and talents are required to develop the building and grounds and volunteers will be required. The tenant will be responsible for running the pub side of the business.