May 19th,  2026

Hi everyone,

IT’S THAT TIME !!!

HMRC Clearance
I am delighted to report that we have finally received clearance from HMRC that our Advanced Assurance tax position has been given approval. This means the tax relief that we are hoping to enjoy on our SEIS and EIS investments is now firm.

The Bank
In addition, we have also received confirmation that the Village Blue Sky Limited bank account [the account where our Pledged investment amounts will go] is now open. As such, all investors can now send their funds to the account which , in turn, means when we have collected all the Pledge funds, we can move towards Completing our acquisition of The Crown. A letter to all investors will be issued shortly, to explain the next steps and detailing the way to transfer the funds.

Pub Refresh
Over the past few days, since we exchanged contracts, you may have seen heightened activity around the exterior of the pub – skip clearance, trugs weeded, hedges cut, shed demolished etc. The outside is looking a bit like a bombshell, however, progress is being made. Inside the pub, a massive clear out is being undertaken, and some [unforeseen] work has been identified.

Our original budget was £619k and, as you know, we let that run on up to £650k, so we could address some items that the survey had revealed which needed attention.

As is often the case in these circumstances, we have discovered some work that needs to be done to ensure we are not redoing things in a few more years. By way of an example, we completed the exchange of contracts on Monday and then on Tuesday, a small part of the ceiling collapsed in the snug !!! - turns out there had been a long term water leak [now sorted] which decided to collapse on our very first day. Other such things have been uncovered and need addressing. And then, finally, we have a few extra pieces of equipment which have now been serviced and it appears need to be replaced in the kitchen, galley and bar areas.

Finance
‍ ‍In summary, it now appears that we will require an additional £15,000 to be able to tackle these additional items. So, I’m reaching out to you all to see who might be able to join me in adding a little extra to their Pledge to fill this gap; any amount will help please. If you are able to Pledge that little bit more, please go to the Pledge page on the pub web site and repeat your earlier action.

If you haven’t yet Pledged, this is your opportunity to take one more look to see if you can help out.

Thank you all , in advance , for considering this and for helping to make one more step forward to owning the pub.

Once we have collected all the money we will Complete on the purchase and the pub will be ours. Thereafter, we will move to finishing all the exciting refurbishments inside and the around the courtyard and will then be ready to open the doors once again in a few short weeks.

We’re very nearly there now - thanks once again everyone for your incredible support.

Mike Cottman, Chair of the Management Committee