The Beauchamp Arms, Dymock, Gloucestershire

The Parish taking the lead

The Beauchamp Arms is owned by the Parish Council but run on their behalf by a local management company, the Neptune Pub Company. The landlord, Ralph Palmer, is a director of the management company and runs the pub as a family business. The work of Dymock Parish Council is an excellent example of an astute use of funding for rural community services combined with the drive of local people to preserve the pub and extend the parish hall.

The village

Dymock is a small, picturesque village in Gloucestershire with a population of 300 people. It has a shop, post office, petrol station and school. The village is renowned for the Dymock poets who lived in the area before the First World War and is popular with tourists.

Funding - acquiring the pub

The Beauchamp Arms went up for sale in 1996 and remained on the market for nearly a year with little interest shown. The Parish Council became interested in buying it, mainly as the purchase would release land for an extension to the adjacent parish hall, but also to retain the last remaining pub in the village. The other pub in the village had been sold some years before and converted into housing.

The Parish Council secured a loan from the Public Works Loan Board for £160,000 to buy and renovate the pub. As the purchase of the pub was directly linked to improving other community facilities in the village, the loan was approved by the Secretary of State for the Environment. The Parish Council took over ownership of The Beauchamp Arms in 1997 and advertised for a management company to take on the day to day running of the pub. The present manager has been successfully running the pub for nearly three years. The rent set by the Parish Council covers the loan repayment and additional funds for the upkeep of the fabric of the building.

Shortly after the purchase the Parish Council sold some of the land associated with the pub to the Parish Hall Committee for £20,000 to allowing them to extend the neighbouring parish hall. The building work was finished in 2000, funded by a National Lottery grant.

Seeking outside help

Although the Parish Council has been very proactive it also recognised that at key points in the process outside help was needed. The council employed a local consultancy to undertake a feasibility study prior to applying for funding to buy the pub. The Parish Hall Committee also used the same firm to help put the Lottery bid together for the parish hall extension. The Gloucestershire Rural Community Council was very helpful in advising the Parish Council and helping put grant applications together. The RCC was also the main point of contact with the Gloucestershire Association of Parish and Town Councils and prepared the application to the Public Works Loan Board.

The Parish Hall Committee also used the same firm to help put the Lottery bid together for the parish hall extension.

Lending a helping hand

When the Parish Council bought the pub it was in need of substantial refurbishment. Although the loan did include some money towards renovation, much of the work was done by the local community donating their time, skills and resources.

Benefits to the pub

The main benefit to the pub is the new sense of ownership which has been created amongst the villagers. Services are tailored to the needs of the villagers who now feel a strong sense of loyalty to the pub, using it regularly for a range of meetings and events.

The landlord is keen to support other local businesses and sources as many as possible of the ingredients for the bar meals from local suppliers, including the local cheesemaker and the butcher and baker from nearby villages.

Community benefits

The Beauchamp Arms has remained a village pub and is supported by the local community. Although the outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease in 2001 affected trade, the landlord appreciated that people in the village had rallied round and used the pub more to keep takings up. A number of community groups, such as the playgroup and the Parents and Teachers Association, hold meetings there and there is a monthly lunch for Dymock's over 60s club. The pub also caters for parish events, including the recent launch of the Countryside Agency's Vital Villages programme. The landlord is keen to support other local businesses and sources as many as possible of the ingredients for the bar meals from local suppliers, including the local cheesemaker and the butcher and baker from nearby villages.

Key pointers to success

The drive and initiative of the Parish Council has enabled them not only to keep the remaining pub in the village but also to achieve a long standing aim to improve the parish hall.

• The professionalism of the Parish Council?s approach to securing funding from a number of public agencies has borne fruit. The success of the scheme has encouraged them to tap into other funding sources, such as a grant from the Vital Villages programme to produce a parish plan.
• The Rural Community Council provided the Parish Council with advice and acted as champion for the joint pub and parish hall project.
• The initiative has put the parish on the map and as a result other parish clerks have sought advice from the Dymock councillors.
• The Parish Council was able to call on the support of the community for its plan to purchase the pub. Their ongoing support has been crucial to its success.