WINSFORD is set to add its name to an exclusive list of communities in the country to have saved a valued building into community ownership, after a £60,000 target was met to buy the De Bees property.

After it was announced earlier this year that the company that owns De Bees, Enterprise Inns, had decided to sell the property, members of the community came up with a rarely-seen plan, in order to save the building.

The group feared that the building, which has been a much-loved nightclub and music venue in the town for decades, would be sold to a property developer and turned into flats.

The Hive, a ‘charitable community benefit scheme’ was then set up with the sole purpose of ‘saving’ the building and turning it into a community asset with supporting local musicians and live music being at the forefront of the plans.

Racing against the clock, The Hive needed to raise a minimum of £60,000 through community shares to be in a position to reach Enterprise Inns’ asking price.

And after around four months of campaigning and fundraising, the target is now reached.

Chris Howarth, chairman of The Hive board, which is made up of unpaid members of the community, said: “Thanks to the fantastic support shown by our community The Hive managed to reach the minimum target of £60,000 through community shares by the August 5 deadline and will now be in a position to complete the purchase of De Bees by September 5.

“The £60,000 target has been reached, but further contributions are still welcome as any further funds will be used for renovation.

“Having reached the first key milestone, we would like to say a huge thanks to the many volunteers who performed or worked for free at The Hive’s recent fundraising events in De Bees, more than £10,000 was raised and used to buy community shares to help reach the £60,000 target.”

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The Hive also received pre-assurance from HMRC last week that the society qualifies for Social Investment Tax Relief (SITR).

This means that investors in the Community Share Offer will receive 30 per cent tax relief on the value of shares but, what is crucial to acquisition is that as a result, The Hive is now able to attract pound-for-pound match funding for the share offer up to £100,000.

The share offer on Ethex remains open to investors until August 30, now with less than £20,000 left to raise through shares to hit the maximum target of £160,000, which would deliver £100,000 budgets for renovation works in October.

To find out more and join The Hive go to ethex.org.uk/thehivesavingdebees