Plans for community to buy village pub take a step forward
The Lion Pub in Ramsey St Mary's. - Credit: Rightmove
Residents in Ramsey St Marys have agreed to come together as a community and form a committee to look into purchasing the Lion pub in the village.
The decision was reached following a meeting at the Ramsey Community Centre on March 7.
More than 40 people were in attendance at the event, including the Mayor of Ramsey, Cllr Steve Corney, and members of Cambridgeshire County Council.
Micky O'Donoghue, who organised the meeting and came up with the idea for the community to buy the pub after it closed, said: “It went very well and I was surprised with how many people want to do it.
"The whole emphasis is going to be on it being a community pub. The Lion has got a big function room upstairs which can be used for a lot of community activities like learning clubs, book clubs, mother and baby groups, every aspect you can think of.
"Everybody wants it because there is no community centre in Ramsey St Mary’s Heights itself or no hub at all, and the emphasis will be on it becoming a hub of the community. I think it will be fantastic."
Micky said that 12 people have agreed to join the committee, including some "prominent" people, to help achieve the ambition to purchase the pub as a community.
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With plans to buy the pub beginning to progress, North-West Cambridgeshire MP, Shailesh Vara, has agreed to come to the pub on Friday this week and chat with Micky.
Then the next step is an arranged viewing at the pub on March 18 for the community to look around.
A first committee meeting will take place shortly after, and a further announcement will be made following the meeting to inform everyone of the process going forward.
Micky said that shares in the pub would be available for the public to buy at £50 a share, and hopefully, some funding from the council and Government grants will become available.
Micky said: "The shares will be open to everybody; it won’t just be Ramsey people. Individuals, businesses, whoever wants to get involved, we’re not going to rule anybody out at the moment.”
"If anybody is interested in the shares, details will be announced shortly."
