SAVING THE LOWTHER ARMS
The Lowther Arms at Mawbray is currently closed following the recent death of the licensee-owner. Public meetings have recently been
held in the village to explore how the pub could be kept open. Over sixty people attended the first meeting. At the second meeting
Julian Ross, chair of the Old Crown Co-op in Hesket Newmarket, outlined the circumstances of their community buy-out. The advantages
were that the community had a part of their own pub and a say in how it was run, while the vendor had people committed to buying the pub.
The buyers were people who were not worried about sales figures for the last two years – the community knew what they wanted, what the
problems were and how they could put them right. He stressed however that the Old Crown would not survive financially if it depended
solely on local trade.
Bill Knowles from Enterprising Communities explained that other structures were possible, such as Development Structure Association, Limited
Company, Co-op limited by shares etc. Various funding streams were potentially available to community buyers. Enterprising Communities is
the only group in the UK taking people from start-up to sustainable rural community enterprises, but the project ends in March 2006. It has
successfully helped communities achieve their goals and will continue to do so as individual consultants after the current project finishes.
A survey of those attending the meeting suggests that over two thirds of them would use the pub once a week or more often if it offered the
right services. Residents said they wanted a friendly local pub for local people; locally produced real ales; quality pub grub; use of the
beer garden; a venue for quiz and darts teams; a child friendly pub with non smoking areas and good ventilation.