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The Three Horseshoes – Under New Management

The Three Horseshoes has been acquired by Naseem Qume who lives in Horspath village but who has close ties to Garsington and only recently moved from the village.

She has put in place staff to run the pub and is in search of a chef to start on a very part time basis to provide food as soon as possible. The plan is to start off with a weekly Sunday roast and a weekly curry night, and to steadily progress from there. Coffee mornings are planned once she has sourced a coffee machine. The aim is to offer food and lunches every day of the week subject to sales.

The plans include refurbishing the old stables to provide staff accommodation and to use the upper parts for bed and breakfast lettings.

Naseem would be very keen to hear from anyone who is interested in being employed to:

  • Maintain the garden
  • Manage the coffee mornings
  • Do some Sunday roasts

The Three Horse Shoes will only be successful if it is supported and regular updates will be provided to the Garsington Community Benefit Society.

Contracts Exchanged

We finally heard on Wednesday that Greene King and the new owners have exchanged contracts.

We still don’t know who the new owners will be, but will let you know as soon as we find out.

We are now processing the refunds for shareholders, and would like to thank everyone for their support.

Update

Despite very strong support from the community, we were informed yesterday that our bid for the pub has not been successful. Greene King told us that they are planning to sell to a pub / restaurant operator who bid substantially more although we don’t yet know who this is.

Thank-you for your engagement and excellent ideas around creating a community pub – we will endeavour to engage with the new owners about these and hopefully they’ll know how to put on a good Sunday lunch!

As we get further news and if anything changes we’ll keep you informed

Kind Regards,
Management Committee
Garsington Community Benefit Society

“Update”

We are aware that we’ve been very quiet over the last few weeks; at present, however, there is very little to report.

We are in contact with the agents: Greene King are still considering the bids and are yet to make a final decision.

We will keep you informed as soon as we can but we aren’t able give a time frame at the moment.

Thanks for your patience.

Purchase offer submitted

Thanks to the support of all those who purchased shares, we were able to submit a bid yesterday for The Three Horseshoes. That bid is now being considered by Greene King’s agent and we are waiting to hear back from them.

We hope you understand that due to the competitive sensitivity of the purchase we’ve been careful not to disclose any information during the bidding process.

We have not been advised of a time-frame for Greene King’s decision but rest assured we’ll let you know the outcome as soon as we can.

Thank you all.

Share Offer Extended until the 14th October!

We aren’t ‘just’ trying to save the village’s last pub, we are trying to re-establish the heart of the community. Our vision is that:

  • The Three Horseshoes will be more than just a pub – it will have become Garsington’s community hub, drawing people together and supporting community cohesion.
  • Residents from all walks of life and all ages will identify it as a place to go any day of the week to meet old friends and make new ones, whether it’s for brunch at the weekends, coffee and cake during the day, a pint at the bar in the evening or out for dinner.
  • We will use the freshest ingredients to create delicious, good value food inspired by the best of British pubs (and we mean fresh – out of the veg plot, rather than the freezer)
  • We support local enterprise by supplying locally sourced drinks and real ales and offering fresh local produce.
  • The atmosphere will be consistently relaxed, welcoming and warm, but also fun. All will be welcome at the Horseshoes – muddy dogs, tired children, wet walkers and sweaty cyclists included

In order to do this, we need to raise money from the community to purchase the Three Horseshoes Public House from Greene King plc so that it can be run for the benefit of the community.

So far over 150 people have pledged to buy shares – a very promising start which demonstrates there is a real enthusiasm in the village for owning our pub ourselves, but we would encourage as many others in the community as are able to, to also purchase shares.

The Share Prospectus which gives the details of the proposal, including how to buy the shares and the necessary forms is now available at:

https://www.garsingtoncbs.org.uk/share-offer/

The share offer runs from 23rd September to 14th October 2019.

Please note cheques and bank transfers are acceptable. The last two pages of the prospectus contain instructions on what to do to buy your shares.

In case you have further questions or need to talk the proposal through with a member of the Management Committee, we have arranged a drop in session at the Village Hall on Saturday 28th September 11.00-13.00.

Please note, if you plan to buy shares but you are not able to do so within this window (e.g. you are away of holiday) or have any other questions then please contact:

We believe that the Three Horseshoes can become the centre of our village. With your help and generosity, we will own a pub that sits at the heart of our community.

The Garsington Community Benefit Society Ltd has been awarded support from More Than A Pub: The Community Pub Business Support Programme

A campaign to save a much-loved Oxfordshire pub from closure has been awarded support from More than a Pub: The Community Pub Business Support Programme.

The ‘Save The Three Horseshoes’ campaign will receive a package of specialist business advice and a £2,500 bursary from More than a Pub, a programme established to help support community ownership of pubs in England. Its value is £2.2 million and is funded by Power to Change. It is being delivered by Plunkett Foundation in collaboration with Co-operative & Community Finance, Key Fund, the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), Co-operative Mutual Solutions, Pub is the Hub, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and Locality.

 “We’re delighted to have been awarded support from More than a Pub,” said chair of the Parish Council, Chris Wright. “We will use this bursary to pay legal fees and other costs we incur as we prepare a bid to buy the pub.”

At one time, Garsington had three pubs, but over the years two of them closed and became residential houses. When Greene King decided to sell the last remaining pub, a number of people in the village started to work on a plan to buy it for the community. Over the past months, a community benefit society has been established that aims to purchase and safeguard the Three Horseshoes for future generations. There has been an overwhelming level of support for this project and they are well on the way to achieving their target figure. 

Plunkett Foundation’s James Alcock, Executive Director for Plunkett, said: “We’re so pleased to be able to support the Save the Three Horseshoes campaign, who are working hard to make sure their community can benefit from everything that having a thriving local pub brings. Pubs that are owned and run by the community are so much more than a place to buy a drink; they provide important social spaces and services for local people, and are central to their community’s sense of place and identity.”

Between now and October 23rd, when the bid must be submitted, the management team are working hard, making sure they have completed the necessary financial and legal hurdles. With an eye to the future, they are also planning to be as ready as they can to take over the pub should their efforts be successful.

Share Prospectus Presentation

Many thanks for those who attended our village meetings where we outlined the plans for raising the funds needed to purchase the pub. For those who were not able to make these meetings, the presentation is now available for download

We have now received confirmation of the registration of the Garsington Community Benefit Society with the Financial Conduct Authority, and we will be circulating the prospectus in the next few days.

Village Meeting – 9th September

Many thanks for those who attended our meeting on Thursday.

As mentioned, the Business Plan and other information on the Garsington Community Business Society is available at https://www.garsingtoncbs.org.uk

For those who were unabled to attend, we will be holding a second meeting at 7.30pm on Monday 9th September in the Sports and Social Club, where we will explain to potential investors, the share offer we will be using to raise money from the community in order to buy the Three Horseshoes.