The refurbishment works are progressing well with all of the building’s structural work completed. As we run up to Christmas, we will have the floors laid, first fix of the electrics and plumbing concluded, the walls insulated and prepared for plaster boarding and skimming.
To get the refurbishment project to this stage has been a huge undertaking though not without the odd unexpected challenge. The main fabric of the original building is constructed from sandstone, which has been in place for hundreds of years. The mud, straw, and horsehair holding much of it together do not fare well over such extended periods! As a result, and with regularity, every time we remove some plaster or lift a piece of timber there is another cracked wall or unstable piece of masonry which has to be stripped out very delicately and repaired using specialist building techniques compatible with an historic building and its fabric. In short, this has been far more expensive and time consuming than was envisaged.
We have funding in place to cover the majority of the refurbishment of the building fabric, floors, walls, electrics and plumbing all to a good standard and ready for an operational pub and hub. However, there are some additional unfunded costs ahead of us for the commercial kitchen, kitchen extraction, fridges and freezers and cellar fit out, as well as these costs we also have landscaping costs which we are committed to as part of our planning application. These costs have increased well above budget and in the main due to the new Bio Diversity Net Gain requirements introduced in April.
As a result of the above, we decided to approach the Community Ownership Fund (COF) who we have an obligation to in relation to timescales and our forecasted reopening date. We duly completed and submitted a formal Project Change Request in order to seek an extension to the project timeline within our original Grant Funding Agreement with COF. We were extremely pleased to receive the formal approval from COF this week, enabling us to extend the project timeline out to June 2025.
While we have addressed the timescale extension required, we are still faced with a funding shortfall for some of the works ahead. The increased timeframe will help with having more time to complete the works, but also to continue our fundraising. In order to complete the fit-out elements mentioned previously we still have a funding gap of £140,000. We have a number of options that we are actively pursuing, including additional grant funding opportunities, local organisation investment, tenant buy-in but most importantly, our continued Community Share offer.
The Share Offer has been a huge success, you have raised over £282,000 since we launched, which is an outstanding achievement. In our prospectus we set a cap on the Share Offer of £420,000 and due to the additional costs identified, it looks as though we will need to get as close to this figure as possible in order to complete the refurbishment of our Golden Lion to a high standard.
The extended timeframe also assists us with our opening plans and gives us the greatest opportunity for a successful opening. All the industry advice we have had indicates that Christmas and New Year are probably the most challenging times of year to open a new hospitality business. Easter onwards however, offers a far better chance of having a successful opening event with maximum publicity and being able to provide an excellent customer experience.
Our search for a tenant and partner for the pub and hub continues and we will be launching a nationwide advertising campaign seeking Expressions of Interest from prospective tenants, based on the general expectations we have circulated previously. This process is kindly being managed and promoted by Legat Owen and we are hoping to have the campaign concluded by Christmas.
Although we have changed the original opening dates we were working towards, we very much still want to hold a pre-Christmas event to say thank you for all the support and to promote the project more widely. Therefore, we will be holding a ‘mince pie and mulled wine’ event on Sunday the 22nd of December at the Golden Lion, wrap up warm because it will be an external event, with, numbers permitting, perhaps a peek inside to see the huge progress made so far. More details to follow in the near future.
Can we thank you all as members of the community, supporters, shareholders and project volunteers for everything you have enabled the project to achieve so far, but there is more to do. Please support the share offer if you haven’t already, or consider buying some more if you have, they would make excellent Christmas presents! You can also help by keeping the story going via conversations and on your social media, please promote the Share Offer in any supportive way you can.
All details can be found on our website and hard copies of the Prospectus, Application Form, and Business Plan are also available at Ashton Hayes and Mouldsworth Community Shop. If you have any questions, please feel free to send us an email.