Keeping the Sun Inn at the Heart of our community

The Sun Inn community project steering group is working to launch a Community Benefit Society (CBS) that will ensure the Sun Inn, Eryrys will continue to function at the heart of our community. For this CBS, like any new business, we will need to ensure that we can cover business start-up costs and also establish financial reserves to reduce business risk.  At our first open meeting on 19 November 2025, we confirmed that Eryrys and wider communities will have to cover these start-up costs and build financial reserves for the CBS.

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The steering group needs to ensure that we are able to demonstrate financial responsibility at all times in running the Sun Inn as a community pub for the people of Eryrys and beyond. 

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In discussions with Cwmpas (a Welsh Economic Development organisation), Co-operatives UK (a network supporting member owned businesses), our financial accountants and members of the steering group have identified the following: 

• The initial minimum funding amount required to run the Sun Inn as a community project is £20,000. This amount would cover up to three months overheads, rent and current staff costs, but does not include any contingency or set up costs. 

• General guidance for a CBS to run a community pub is that it is advisable and necessary to build a funding pot to cover the first 3 – 6 months of operations, set up costs and have a contingency pot for unforeseen overheads or costs. We have estimated that this amount would be greater than the minimum funding and could be as high as £50,000.

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These figures are an estimation and may be subject to change.  

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The steering group has started work to develop a share offer in line with the Co-Operative Society Financial Rules. This share offer will stipulate the maximum investment required and will be available in the next few weeks. 

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Alongside this share issue the steering group will also research other ways of fundraising.

 
A call for pledges 

To progress with our proposal to establish the Sun Inn as a community pub we are asking individuals and all households in the community who can afford to, to pledge a contribution from £100 upwards to the share fund of our new Community Benefit Society for the Sun Inn. This is the minimum amount for individuals and households but if people could afford a higher amount, you are asked increase your contribution. The steering group thanks every person in the community for considering this proposal.

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By asking for pledges to cover the start-up costs and financial reserves, the steering group will be able to establish how much the community is willing and able to invest. We hope to launch the pledge forms at the second open meeting on Saturday 13th December at 2pm in Canolfan Dewi Sant. Once funding pledges have been received the steering group will review the amount and assess whether our overall target funding is achievable. It is important to note that the pledges will be held in confidence i.e. the amount will be shared with the steering groups members but not the name of the individual/household. Once the amount has been confirmed, the next step will be to issue a formal share offer to enable individuals and households to become members of the Sun Inn Community Benefits Society.  

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How it works

For example: A £100 contribution would give each member:

• a £1 membership share, and 

• 99 x £1 community shares.

 
The £1 membership share allows the holder to attend, speak and vote at Sun Inn Community Pub Members’ Annual General Meeting (AGM). This will include electing representatives to the management committee. Members who contribute more than the initial £100, will still only have one vote. It doesn’t matter whether you pledge £100 or several thousand pounds, you will still only have 1 vote meaning that everyone has an equal influence in managing our community asset.
 
The community shares are repayable on request, assuming the community benefit society has reserves, and repayment will be made at the management committee’s discretion. The management committee is likely to suspend the right to request repayments for the first three years of operation. Each £1 membership share is not withdrawable from the CBS, and so will not be repaid.

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If the community benefit society is profitable, it may be possible in the future to pay interest on the community shares at no more than 5% or 3% above the Bank of England base rate, whichever is greater. Interest income may be taxable depending on the individual’s circumstances
 
As the Society is for the benefit of the community, and not for profit, we are obliged to set up an asset lock. The asset lock means any future profits will be used to build up a reserve, or used for the benefit of the community. Profits in excess of this can be used to pay interest and subsequently to repay requested withdrawal of community shares.
 
The share issue for the CBS will be carried out independently from the steering group. As with the pledge process, the share issue will be managed in confidence and through a separate bank account. The only people with access to the names of the donors will be the two bank account signatories, both of whom will be drawn from the formal officials of the CBS. 

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Personal data will be captured for the pledge process and the subsequent issue of shares. You can see what data we will collect and how it will be stored and used and when it will be deleted by visiting our data privacy notice page on www.suninncommunitypub.co.uk