Please help us to save our ancient village pub from developers!

A huge proportion of local residents support the reopening of the Henry Jenkins Inn as a Freehouse managed by the community but run by a tenant landlord. Once saved, it will be a valuable community asset in our rural area in perpetuity and being owned by the community means that we can react and adapt to any future changes or losses in village infrastructure. In addition, we plan to use it as part of attracting more visitors to our section of the Nidderdale AONB, boosting the rural economy and providing much needed local jobs for local people.

What's this all about?

The historic Henry Jenkins Inn has been serving the residents of Kirkby Malzeard for nearly 200 years. Named after the legendary Yorkshire figure who is reputed to have lived to a ripe old age of 169, it declined over the years until the doors finally closed in 2014. The unspoken hope of the community was that under a new and energetic management the old Inn would rise, phoenix-like, from the ashes to serve the community again for another 200 years. Sadly this was not the case..

The current owner would like to develop the building for housing, but the local community would like to see the Henry Jenkins open again as a community pub, where families and friends can meet for a coffee, a beer or meal. A community owned pub which responds to the needs of the village, rather than the drive for profits from a big pub company, would mean that our vibrant village can rest assured that it has a warm, welcoming pub long into the future.

The Henry Jenkins has a lot of support in the village, with over two thirds of the village backing the plans to bring it back to life in a recent questionnaire, and each time a planning application has been lodged, dozens of people have written to the local council to object the plans to turn it into housing.

So why don’t you just buy it then?

It is not a straightforward process. Firstly we have to persuade the developer to sell it to us. The pub has been awarded ACV (an Asset of Community Value) status, which protects it from being developed for anything other than a community project, for now… Given the resistance of the owner to sell it, we have to prepare ourselves for a long process; the culmination of which we fear may be a compulsory purchase order. These kinds of projects take enormous amounts of time, energy and financial resources, which is where you come in!

What do you want the money for then?

We, as the Henry Jenkins Pub Committee are happy to do the heavy lifting on time and effort, but before we start trying to raise the funds to allow us to purchase the building, we require a small fighting fund to help with the expenses we incur with lawyers, surveyors, the planning department and architects. At this stage we are looking to raise £4000. Anything that you can contribute will help.

And then what?

When our offer to buy the Henry Jenkins is accepted, we will be looking to raise funds through our Community Share Issue, in which there will opportunities for people to buy shares and become members of our Society and be a part of the regeneration of something amazing for the future generations of Kirkby Malzeard.