Friends of The Ivy community group has big plans for closed pub
A community group has big plans for a village pub, which was put on the market almost a year ago, if it successfully purchases it, its chair says.The Ivy Inn in Heddington, Wiltshire, closed in May 2024 when owners Wadworth put it up for sale. It is an asset of community value, with residents given until 2029 to raise the money to buy it back.Villagers will be given the chance to buy shares in The Ivy Inn to open it and make it functional again once a price has been negotiated for the pub.Dr Paul Moyle-Harris, chair of Friends of The Ivy, said the idea was to "not just save" The Ivy, but "make it more than just a pub".
"Pubs have got to evolve, you see pubs closing all over the country," Dr Moyle-Harris said.When surveying residents of Heddington, Dr Moyle-Harris said it was clear people were "very, very keen on the idea of live music".He said the plan was to run The Ivy as a cafe during the day and as a pub at night.The Friends of The Ivy also hoped to build a wooden cabin on-site to house a vending machine that stocked essentials such as bread, meat and cheese, so villagers did not have to drive to the closest shops.
"In total, if you look at the amount of work we've got to do, [we need] £350,000-380,000 to do what we need to do to make The Ivy functional," he said.The Friends of The Ivy said the pub, which was said to have been visited by US Commander General George Patton while he stayed in Heddington before D-Day, required full replumbing and rewiring along with "major improvements" to the kitchen and toilets.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Telegraph
10 hours ago
- Telegraph
This company is hurting its own revenues on a bet for future growth
Questor is The Telegraph's stock-picking column, helping you decode the markets and offering insights on where to invest. Companies that use their success to channel more resources into improving the experience of customers often create significant value for shareholders in the long run. In the short term, though, these extra costs can seem counterintuitive. US human resources software company Paycom Software is a case in point. Since 2015 it has increased the amount spent on research and development (R&D) as a proportion of sales from below 4pc to 13pc. That represents a considerable increase in costs, yet it has received outsized rewards from the extra spending. Sales have increased more than 12-fold over the period while the extra cost has not reduced operating margin but seen it soar from 11.4pc to 32.5pc. What's more, the rapid growth means the pickup in R&D as a percentage of sales has had a much more dramatic effect in terms of money spent, which has risen from $8.9m (£6.6m) to $243m. Significantly, Paycom has also not been afraid to launch new products that have gone directly against its own short-term interests in order to improve the life of customers. A slowdown in revenue growth that knocked the share price over recent years can in part be attributed to the introduction of a payroll automation feature called Beti. This has reduced payroll workload for some clients by as much as 90pc, with the knock-on effect of eliminating some of the error-correction work Paycom used to get paid to do.
Reuters
2 days ago
- Reuters
Britain to allocate $116 billion to R&D in spending plan
LONDON, June 8 (Reuters) - British finance minister Rachel Reeves will allocate 86 billion pounds ($116 billion) in this week's spending review to fund research and development, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) said on Sunday. It said the package, funding everything from new drug treatments and longer-lasting batteries to artificial intelligence breakthroughs, would be worth over 22.5 billion pounds a year by 2029/30, driving new jobs and economic growth. Reeves will divide more than 2 trillion pounds ($2.7 trillion) of public money between her ministerial colleagues on Wednesday, making choices that will define what the year-old Labour government can achieve in the next four years. The DSIT said the announcement on R&D follows Reeves' commitment last week to 15.6 billion pounds of government investment in local transport in city regions in the Northern England, Midlands and the South West. ($1 = 0.7398 pounds)
The Guardian
2 days ago
- The Guardian
Ministers commit to £86bn for ‘breakthrough' UK science and tech R&D
New drug treatments, longer-lasting batteries and developing artificial intelligence are among research projects that will receive funding as part of an £86bn government investment into science and technology. Ministers have announced a £22.5bn a year commitment in research and development (R&D) over the next four years, including up to £500m for regional authorities to target the investment locally. The announcement comes before the spending review on Wednesday where Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, will set out day-to-day expenditure for three years and investment spending for four years. Reeves said: 'Britain is the home of science and technology. Through the plan for change', we are investing in Britain's renewal to create jobs, protect our security against foreign threats and make working families better off.' Peter Kyle, the science and technology secretary, said: 'R&D is the very foundation of the breakthroughs that make our lives easier and healthier – from new medicines enabling us to live longer, more fulfilled lives to developments in AI giving us time back, from easing our train journeys through to creating the technology we need to protect our planet from climate change.' Ministers said the investment would boost the life sciences industry in Liverpool, the defence sector in Northern Ireland and semiconductors in south Wales. It matches a commitment made by the previous Conservative government to spend £22bn a year on R&D. The seven mayoral strategic authorities in England – Greater Manchester, West Midlands, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, Liverpool City Region, North East and Greater London – will each receive awards of at least £30m each. The fund will also include a competition open to all other parts of the UK. The announcement was welcomed by Richard Parker, the mayor of the West Midlands, and Kim McGuinness, the north-east mayor. McGuinness said the funds would support the car and green energy industries in her region. The package also includes £4.8m for a partnership between Manchester and Cambridge to attract business investment. Alongside the spending review on Wednesday, Reeves is planning to announce an overhaul of the Treasury's 'green book' – the rules that govern how public investment plans are judged. Critics say the existing rules are biased in favour of London and the south-east. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion Changing the rules will allow ministers to divert more money to areas of the north and Midlands, including the so-called red wall where Labour MPs face an electoral challenge from Reform UK. The chancellor will put £113bn of new capital investment in homes, transport and energy at the forefront of the spending review, money which was unlocked by changes she made to the government's debt rules in October. Ministers hope that billions in capital investment and a funding boost for the NHS will stave off disquiet over harsh cuts to day-to-day spending expected across many departments.
