Bell Frisby, Frisby on the Wreake

The Bell Inn Frisby Community Group Ltd (a Community Benefit Society) launched a community share scheme with the objective of purchasing the freehold of the pub. They raised over £300,000, purchased the pub, and the pub has now reopened. See http://www.thebellinnfrisbycommunity.uk/ for more details.

THE BELL IN FRISBY IS RINGING AGAIN

After exactly 12 months to the day of hard work, and a with a huge amount of support from the community, The Bell in Frisby reopened.

The process started back in April 2021 with a meeting of volunteers from Frisby who created a survey for the villagers to gauge the level of interest in buying the pub from the owners. The idea was to raise funds through a share offer to buy the building, renovate it and start trading as soon as possible.

The response was overwhelming, and so the Community Benefit Society was formed. Tony Bird, chairman of the CBS said: ‘None of us fully appreciated the amount of work it would require to set up the group, fill in all the application forms, engage with a vast array of legal, financial and governmental bodies to make this happen. It was tough going, but the massive support we got from all those who showed interest in becoming shareholders kept us motivated.’

Steve Hardy, who became the pub operations manager in charge of everything to do with opening and running the pub, added: ‘We wanted to make absolutely certain that we did this professionally and efficiently. There is no doubt that the support we got from Alicia Kearns MP and local councillor Ronan Browne, helped us get through much of the legislative processes.’

There are 255 shareholders in all. 167 of whom live in the village. We also have shareholders scattered across the globe in Hong Kong, Australia, Germany and the US.

The community share scheme raised and astounding £302,000 which enabled the pub to bought outright, with extra financial support coming from other funding sources such as the Government’s Community Ownership Fund (COF) and the Co-op Community Finance scheme. We also had invaluable advice and support from the Plunkett foundation.

And so, with the cellars completely refurbished, the shelves restocked and the bar redecorated, the pub opened its doors at midday on Thursday 28th April to a long queue of thirsty customers.

Lucy Jackson, the pub manager, has been delighted with the response so far and initial feedback from customers has been extremely positive. Steve added: ‘We made the decision to open and start serving as soon as we could, even though there is still a great deal of work still to be done. This means we don’t have any self-imposed time pressure, so we can plan things properly and make more considered decisions with the customer experience always at the forefront of our thinking.’

Currently the outside of the pub is being repointed before a fresh coat of paint goes on. Then focus will turn towards finishing off the refurbishment of the kitchen with a view to starting food service in early June. Gordon, Lucy’s partner, is at pains to stress he is a cook not a chef and that the food they will be serving will be good quality, locally-sourced, traditional pub food.

Future plans for The Bell include remodelling the outside drinking areas, reroofing the main building and renovating the conservatory with a view to opening it as café later in the year.

Tony finished off by saying: ‘We are delighted to have exceeded our original ambitions to save The Bell. We will continue to grow and develop the pub as a valuable community asset which will serve future generations to come.’

We have a good selection of beers, at very reasonable prices including 3 ales, which are on rotation. These have included: Timothy Taylors, Charnwood Vixen (the best seller), St Autell's Tribute, and a rotation of other Grainstore cask ales such as Tribute, Red Kite, Zahara and Osprey.