The Blue Room Community Pub

YOUR CHANCE TO OWN A PART OF THE BLUE ROOM

We’re the 139 Church Street Community Pub Ltd. A group of locals and former regulars that believe by coming together to purchase the building, we can safeguard its future.

Our bid to buy the pub freehold has been formally accepted; so now we have the opportunity to make the Blue Room community owned.

BACKGROUND

The Blue Room pub is a bay fronted semi-detached 3 storey Victorian building. Built in 1881, the building was originally a hotel and in 1955 became a public house.

Well known to both locals and tourists, the pub was a focal point for the music scene and has been a haunt for the town’s creatives for decades. Perhaps less well known is the fact that Blackpool Football Club was founded on 26th July 1887 following a meeting at the Stanley Arms Hotel.

The Blue Room closed as a pub in late 2015, after reopening a year earlier and has remained closed since

The recently formed 139 Church Street Community Pub society has been formed to facilitate the purchase of the pub, to preserve its independence and viability, and to influence its development for social benefit and community use. This business plan presents a proposal for the purchase of the pub and its operation as a community‐owned asset.

We are running this community share offer to provide the opportunity for locals, businesses, and for anyone that loves a good pub, to invest in the future of The Blue Room.

BENEFITS OF INVESTING

In addition to helping Save the Blue Room for this and future generations, and turning it into a thriving community pub that you want to visit, why would you invest?

• Become co-owner of a historic pub
• Benefit from exclusive shareholder offers on food and drink
• Join in special member only events
• Receive annual dividend payments when profits allow
• Be eligible (true for most taxpayers) to reclaim 30% of investment from HMRC against your tax liability through the relief scheme for current or previous year (investment needs to be held for 3 years to qualify)

SHARE OFFER

Please see the share offer and business plan below for full details. The minimum investment is £100, which will grant you 1 share. You must be 16 or over to hold shares in your name. You can invest anything from £100 (1 share) to £20,000 (200 shares).

Shares can be withdrawn after three years – with interest paid subject to approval and a vote of the membership in year four.

Whatever your investment, you'll become a member of the society and shall have the right to shape its future. With the tax relief we hope to secure, you may be able to afford more than you originally thought – Important: we cannot advise you on your own financial or tax position or decision on whether to invest in the share offer. Please seek your own independent financial and/or tax advice when deciding whether to invest.

We're looking to raise at least £250,000. This will be used to purchase the building, cover legal fees and undertake renovations to allow it to open in the summer of 2017.

A stretch target of £280,000 has been set and if we are successful in reaching this target, further renovation work can be undertaken to the upper floors.

Our campaign will run from Tuesday 14th March to Tuesday 11th April (28 days).

TAX RELIEF

Tax relief available (Pending with HMRC). The government wants to encourage social investment, and so has made tax relief available for community businesses. 139 Church Street Community Pub Limited is a Community Benefit society which will be running a commercial trade with a view to making a profit. Investments by individuals should be eligible for tax relief, reducing your tax liability by 30% of the value of your shares (eg a £1,000 investment reduces your tax bill by £300). 

NOW’S YOUR CHANCE!

We invite you to review our business plan and share offer for further details of our project, including the benefits for the community and a potential return on shares.

Please bear in mind that in order to reach our target, we'll require a mix of investors across all levels. If we can secure the funds by everyone investing £100, we'll need 2,500 investors, but by investing a little more, we'll require significantly fewer investors. Typically, other community pubs have raised the funds by attracting 250 - 400 investors.

Join us, and own a piece of your local! This may be the only chance we have to purchase the building and safeguard its future.

Risk Warning - Funding pitches through Crowdfunder.co.uk carries some risk. There is no guarantee for individuals buying community shares that their investment will be protected. The capital they invest is at risk and they may not get back what they put in. The sale of community shares are not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, nor covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. Click here to read more about the risks.

Our thanks go out to all those that have followed our progress or have played their part in the project so far. In addition we'd like to thank - Joan Humble and Carl O'Hara (The Blackpool Civic Trust), The Plunkett Foundation, Co-operatives UK, Dave Hollings and Gareth Nash (Co-operative and Mutual Solutions), Rob Townsend, Mark Simmonds (Co-op Culture / The Fox and Goose), The Blackpool Supporters Trust, The Tangerine Knights, Barker Booth & Eastwood, Beccy Murrell, The Raikes Hall, the local bands that held a fundraiser (Black Eddy, Sin Circus,  Myk.XLR and Daybreaker) and all those who attended the public consultation.

Finally, although we have not added a reward for investng in the share offer, we will look to recognise each member once the pub is open. This may take the form of listing the names of members to show their commitment. We'll involve members in this when the time is right.