The Trafalgar in South Wimbledon has raised £325,890 from 203 supporters towards saving itself from demolition, with 49 days left to hit its new stretch target of £530,000.
Community Benefit Society Cabo Trafalgar Ltd is buying the pub’s freehold outright through a community share offer, the same model that’s kept over 200 pubs across England open under local ownership.
A pub that’s been serving Wimbledon since 1868
The Trafalgar, known locally as the Traf, is Wimbledon’s oldest freehouse. It’s been pulling pints on High Path since at least 1868 and has built the kind of reputation most pubs never get close to: CAMRA South West London Pub of the Year in both 2024 and 2026, and a place on the Telegraph’s Top 500 Pubs in England.
Under current landlord Oli Carter-Esdale, the Traf has re-established itself as an independent freehouse loved by long-time regulars and newer visitors alike.
Three years of fighting off the bulldozers
The Traf sits on the edge of a major regeneration zone in Merton, which has made it a target. Since 2023, the pub’s freeholder, a property developer, has submitted repeated planning applications to demolish it and build housing. Every application has been rejected. When the developer appealed, the Planning Inspectorate dismissed that too, explicitly recognising the pub’s cultural and social value and its right to keep operating.
Winning at planning doesn’t make a pub safe forever though. The Traf’s lease is coming up, and the only way regulars can guarantee no developer gets another shot is to own the building outright.
Community ownership, or nothing
That’s what Save the Traf is about. Supporters formed Cabo Trafalgar Ltd, a Community Benefit Society, to buy the £500,000 freehold and hold it for the community, permanently. As one campaign organiser put it: “The only way to protect the Traf for generations is community ownership.”
“The only way to protect the Traf for generations is community ownership.”
The minimum target is £250,000. The campaign has since set an extended stretch target of £530,000, covering the full purchase and completion costs. £325,890 is in from 203 people so far, 61% of that stretch goal, with 49 days left before the share offer closes on 17 November 2026. Completion is targeted for Christmas Eve.
Investment starts at £250 (250 shares at £1 each), and every member gets one vote regardless of how much they’ve put in, true to the community shares model. Interest accrues at 3.5 to 4% depending on investment tier. Supporters also get a birthday drink each year, their name on the pub’s wall of honour and ongoing drink discounts, with brewery visits for anyone investing £1,000 or more.
Why this one’s different
The crowd really came through for this project and made it one of the fastest-funding pub crowdfunders on the platform. The share offer launched on 9 September, backed by a community meeting that drew nearly 140 people. Within 24 hours, the campaign had already passed 20% of its target. Inside a week, it had cleared 50%. Two weeks after launch, Cabo Trafalgar Ltd had hit its minimum £250,000 target in full, which is what triggered the move to the £530,000 stretch goal that’s still open today.
That’s the kind of local density most fundraisers spend months trying to build, and it’s why this is shaping up to be the biggest pub crowdfunder of the year: not just the size of the target, but the speed the community hit it at. If it succeeds, the Traf becomes Merton’s first community-owned pub, joining a growing list of pubs across England that have swapped a developer’s spreadsheet for a share register.
What it says about community shares
Community shares work because everyone with a stake becomes an advocate. Businesses funded this way have a strong track record: 92% of companies that raise through community shares are still trading, against 55% for the average business. When 203 people each own a piece of the pub, none of them are hoping someone else saves it. They’re the ones saving it.
Regulars and anyone who believes locals deserve a say over their local have 49 days left to add their name to that wall of honour. Invest now at crowdfunder.co.uk/p/save-the-traf, or look into how a community share offer could protect a place you care about.
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