Funding drive to buy the Ship Inn in Aldwick to be launched: “This is our one chance to recover our local pub”

A six-week drive to raise £500,000 in order to buy back the Ship Inn pub in Aldwick is set to be launched.
Campaigners hoping to save the Ship InnCampaigners hoping to save the Ship Inn
Campaigners hoping to save the Ship Inn

Roger Beam, chairman of the Friends of Ship Inn, said it was the culmination of a six year campaign to save the pub and the ‘one chance’ to recover it for the community.

The Ship Inn in Aldwick Street, which closed in 2014 and was converted into a food shop, has stood empty for around two years.

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Residents, who want to see the building re-opened as a pub-restaurant, have decided to purchase the pub themselves and are launching a share issue campaign on Saturday.

The Friends of the Ship Inn has set up The Aldwick Community Society Ltd, a community business society registered with the Financial Conduct Authority.

This is the organisation which will run the share issue, collect the funds and will own the Ship Inn freehold.

Shares costing £50 are being offered to all those who want to own a piece of the pub and have a say in how it is run.

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Mr Beam said: “We want it to become the social hub for Aldwick. We want it to revive the Aldwick spirit.

“We want it to be a thriving, lively, local place for us to eat, drink and relax.”

Posters, signs and balloons will appear all over Aldwick on Saturday to raise as much awareness of the share issue as possible.

During the morning, campaigners will be situated in Rose Green outside the Co-op, outside Tudor News opposite the Ship Inn and outside Craigweil News in Barrack Lane to talk to residents about the plans.

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The vacant pub building is currently owned by Surplus Property Investments, which Mr Beam said was willing to sell the freehold to The Aldwick Community Society Ltd, if it can raise the money.

If it cannot, the building is likely to become another convenience store.

A planning application submitted by One Stop Stores, which sought permission to increase the number of deliveries at the building from 21 to 36 a week and alter the permitted delivery hours, was deferred by councillors in January.

In a plea to residents, Mr Beam said: “This is our one chance to recover our local pub. Aldwick needs the Ship Inn, and the Ship Inn needs you.

“Please show your support and help us to buy it.”

Find out more at www.theshipinnaldwick.co.uk

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