The White House pub has been at the heart of the Bladon community since the 17th Century and is the last remaining community facility in this village, which is the resting place of Sir Winston Churchill. It's also the pub where Churchill “learned to drink” when he lived at nearby Blenheim Palace.
The pub was put on the market by the current owners Greene King in September 2019 and in December a Community Share Offer was launched to secure the future of the pub for our wonderful village and all its visitors. We have now finally received the news we have been waiting for and our offer to purchase the pub has been accepted!
Whilst we have the necessary funds to purchase the White House, once the pub is in our ownership there will be very little left for refurbishment works and to bring the Community Services that we wish to offer to life. All monies raised will therefore be put towards transforming the pub into a thriving community hub, offering disabled access toilets and new baby changing facilities as well as a re-landscaped outdoor space to offer a safe, family-friendly garden for all to enjoy. We will also use funds to launch the community services that we intend to offer, to include a dementia support group, coffee mornings for the elderly and parents of young children and a small shop.
Every little helps - this is a 'flexible' crowdfund so we will receive all pledges when the window closes on 30th June.
Our Vision for the Pub
Our aim is to secure the future of the White House for the benefit of Bladon, the wider community and visiting tourists, as a flourishing friendly and welcoming village pub. The pub will be a free house that serves local beers and sensibly priced, freshly cooked, good food prepared using locally sourced ingredients. It will be the heart of the village as a place for social gathering, cultural activities, somewhere to meet people and exchange information, and it will promote a cohesive and friendly community in the area. We would intend to run a programme of monthly and weekly evening events at the pub (e.g. quiz, music, specialist food nights, sports activities such as Aunt Sally), day-time events for local residents (e.g. being open for breakfast for school-run parents and early morning dog walkers), and provide a base and lunchtime venue for visitors to Winston Churchill's grave and the neighbouring Blenheim Palace Park. We also intend to offer support groups from the pub, refurbish the toilets to provide fully accessible facilities and re-landscape the outdoor space to provide a safe, family-friendly garden to be enjoyed by the community and its visitors.
Our vision is that a thriving, community owned White House would be ‘more than a pub’ and deliver charitable outcomes by enabling greater community cohesion, improving access to community services and help reduce social isolation for the growing elderly population in the village.
Community ownership
We are registered as a Community Benefit Society (CBS) with a large membership base primarily drawn from the villages in the immediate vicinity of the pub. The democratic governance structure of the CBS ensures that the whole community remain in control of the society and its pub.