Nympsfield Community Pub Limited (NCPL) is a Community Benefit Society established to purchase the only pub in our village, the Rose & Crown Inn, which closed in March 2023, leaving the village bereft of a place to eat, drink and socialise with friends and neighbours.
A community consultation was undertaken in March 2024 which confirmed overwhelming support to save and reopen the pub under community ownership. Following publication of the business plan in August 2024, NCPL launched a community share offer in September 2024 which raised nearly £300,000.
Almost 75% of NCPL’s 423 investors (or members) live within a five-mile radius of Nympsfield and own 85% of its shares. Our membership comes from different socio-economic groups, ages and genders. Members will form a significant part of the customer base and will be champions of the business in the wider community.
NCPL has organised numerous fundraising events including pop-up and pop-in pubs attracting hundreds of people from the surrounding area. In addition, NCPL has been successful in securing grants from SDC Rural England Prosperity Fund and GCC Build Back Better scheme amongst others. In total, NCPL has raised over £400,000 through shares, members’ loans, grants, fundraising income and donations.
NCPL’s offer to purchase the Rose & Crown Inn for £350,000 was accepted in August and completion is expected in November 2025. Following the purchase, renovation and refurbishment works are planned to enable a phased reopening of the pub - starting with the bar area, then the restaurant, then the lettable rooms and so on.
NCPL’s business model is to appoint a tenant to manage the day-to-day operations of the pub. They will be attracted to the long-term potential of the Rose & Crown Inn as a community-owned, but not managed, pub. Starting as a wet sales operation (with food truck at weekends), the tenant will rebuild the “Rose & Crown” brand and grow its customer base as the pub’s offering expands into food, lettable rooms, community cafe and shop over the next four years. They will value the opportunity to live on the premises in fully modernised, secure and private tenant’s accommodation.
