When Ei Group moved to sell the 300-year-old Crown Inn last year, it triggered a six month window giving a community-led group time to put in an offer, but this ended on Tuesday, June 19.
Minchinhampton Crown Inn Limited was shortly set up by a group of locals to do just that, with an initial offering for those living in the town of up to 12,000 shares priced at £100 each.
Any sale of the pub was paused because the town’s parish council got the pub designated an Asset of Community Value, endowing it with additional protections under the 2011 Localism Act.
The Crown Inn closed in 2012, though it opened its doors briefly to actor Keeley Hawes for the filming of Casual Vacancy in 2014.
So far MCI Ltd has raised £200,000 from over 300 donors, with even expats from nine countries chipping in.
The directors have also embarked on fundraising events, getting some practice at pint pulling when they held a pop-up bar on Saturday, June 9 in Minchinhampton’s Market House.
Even though the protected period is over, the directors of MCI Ltd say they “will carry on trying to save the Crown,” according to their Facebook page.
In the meantime, MCI Ltd are now widening their quest for cash by reaching out to local businesses and bigger donors – the group hope to raise £1.2m.
Sadly this group never seem to answer emails.