Village rallies round to save shop
We reported in the January Leveller® that Stoke St Gregory was trying to save both the local shop and pub. The Royal Oak, at the heart of the village stands next to the old village shop, also up for sale.
So the village put together a project “The Heart of the Village Project”. The idea being to buy the pub and turn it into a community centre that included a pub and a shop.
The target was to raise £200,000 from the community. It is not a large village with less than 1,000 souls.
But they have done it!
The community fund raising effort will now trigger various grants which will take the total up to the £471,000 that enables an offer to be made to buy the pub.
Spokesperson Graham Gleed told us “it is with considerable pride and satisfaction that I am happy to report that we have reached our goal of raising £200,000 in community contributions. On behalf of the whole HOTV management committee I would like to sincerely to say thank you for the contribution that each one of you has made to achieving this major milestone.”
The tentative schedule for completion of the sale is June 30th or sooner.