Consulting the Community
Assessing the community's need and support for a pub is vital. Success can be estimated by taking into account the village size, the number of people in support of the pub and the anticipated spend per person. Good local consultation with the community and residents in the surrounding area will help to ascertain what goods and services people really want and the pub will have a much better chance of being successful and profitable.
Public meeting
A public meeting can be held to gauge support and raise awareness of the project, however, a meeting should only be held when you have something to say and you are confident that you know enough about Co-operative Pubs to present a viable business concept to the wider community. We can help with this by providing resources, presentation materials, facts and figures, and potentially by appointing a representative to support you.
It is important to know exactly what you want from the meeting and that the chair person knows what, if anything, has to be decided at the meeting. It is a good idea to choose an experienced chair person and someone who is well known in the community. It can be useful to circulate forms at the meeting for people to complete and return indicating whether they would like to help or have any ideas. Some people might not wish to speak up during the meeting, so make sure it is clear to whom the forms should be returned and set a deadline. The meeting should be held in a recognised meeting place with plenty of room - such as a village hall or school.
It is also important to remember that very often the people most likely to use and support a local pub may be unable to attend a public meeting, particularly if it is held in the evening e.g. parents of young children or older people - so it should not be assumed that non-attendance by these groups is an indication of lack of support. Saturday afternoons or Sundays can often be the best day to attract the widest section of the community. Where possible, meetings should last no longer than 90 minutes and an agenda/time-table must be prepared in advance.
Questionnaires
A questionnaire will help to determine the level of interest and hands-on support that is available, the additional goods and services that people want or need (that could be co-located in or with the pub) and the most popular opening hours; it will also help to identify any potential barriers and opportunities. Potential funding bodies will require this information when assessing your applications for grants or loans. The questionnaire should be hand delivered to every household in the community and surrounding area if possible and hand collected to ensure maximum response. The local press, community magazines, newsletters and websites can be used to publicise the survey and its importance to the village - you could even use the above methods to deliver the questionnaire itself. Some communities set up a Facebook group to promote the survey.
All Co-operative Pubs have a management committee responsible to ensure that the pub is financially viable and satisfies the aims and objectives of the organisation.
Other ways of consulting the community
You may wish to consider other ways of consulting with the community. For example, you could organise a doorstep survey or an 'open day' in the community, perhaps in the village hall or community centre. Many communities will also have undertaken a community planning exercise, sometimes known as a Parish Plan or community led plan. This can be a useful consultative document to draw on to evidence the issues that are important to those living and working in your community. In depth consultation will increase your chances of success.
Setting up your committee
If your initial consultations suggest that a Co-operative Pub is worth serious consideration, the next step is to set up a steering group or management committee.
At this point, even though an actual business has not been established a committee with a simple constitution will be required to take on the responsibility of managing and leading the steering group with the aim of setting up a new Co-operative Pub. The steering group or committee is effectively the management group of an unincorporated organisation.
The committee needs to set out its aims and objectives from the outset as well as allocating roles and responsibilities for its members in order to have a clear purpose and goal in sight. These can be incorporated into a constitution that can be used to communicate to the wider community the purpose and scope of the committee and the persons involved.
Responsibility of the committee
The committee will be required to assess the viability of a Co-operative Pub in your community, explore all the possible options as to how it can be set up and managed and how it will work to represent the interests or concerns of the wider community.
Questions that may need to be considered include:
• What are the benefits to the community in having a Co-operative Pub?
• Where is the pub located?
• Is the current pub building the best option?
• How much will it cost to start and where will the money come from?
• Will the pub be financially viable and if so what will the profits be used for?
• What will the pub sell and serve and what additional services can be offered?
• Who will run the pub, and how will it be managed?
• Who in the community can help?
• What competition is there?
• Which other Co-operative Pubs can be visited to gain ideas?
The management committee has overall responsibility for the governance of the co-operative and therefore committee members may face personal liability should things go wrong. Incorporating as a co-operative provides limited liability to those involved. It is therefore important to meet regularly and make sure that the correct information is presented and recorded at meetings so that committee members can make informed decisions.
Committee Membership
Committees should consist of a minimum of three people, and a maximum of twelve. At the very least, a committee should consist of a Chairperson, Secretary and Treasurer. It is also good practice to have 4-6 other people with specific roles who can lead several sub committees or groups, for example:
• Business Planning – to consider premises options, set up the legal structure and develop a business plan
• Finance and Fundraising – to raise funds within and outside the community and open and manage a bank account
• Retail and Marketing – to carry out market research, assess the competition and develop a press/PR campaign
• People Management – to keep the community involved and up to date with progress, recruit volunteers and to consider management and staffing implications
Sub committees help to spread the work load and an appointed representative from each sub group can feed back to the main committee on a regular basis.
Ideally suited individuals:
• Keen, committed and hard working individuals
• People who know the community well
• People who support each other
• A member of the Parish Council or local council
• An accountant
• A solicitor
• A business adviser
• People with good computer skills
• A good administrator/project manager
• Representatives from local community groups
• People with property skills
• People with 'hands-on' pub management skills
These people need not necessarily be on the committee, but it is helpful to identify the people that the committee can turn to should the need arise. Some communities may have people with these skills within the village or you might have to look for outside support. This can add a considerable expense to your budget, so it is worth contacting Business Link and Law Works first to find out what free advice and guidance already exists. It is essential to ensure that the right people with the right skills are involved in the project from the outset. It is also essential to believe that your community can do it yourself with the right support.
The purpose of the committee at this stage is very different from that of a trading pub business, so the committee roles and membership will need to adapt and change as the project develops. The committee will not be expected to micro-manage the pub as day-to-day management will be in the hands of a professional manager or tenant.
Next steps
Once you have reviewed the Co-operative Pub information and have started to discuss this with your community, if you decide that you would like to go down the Co-operative Model route, please contact the Plunkett Foundation on 01993 810730 or email info@plunkett.co.uk and we will explain the next steps of the process to you.