The Open-Source Public House!

[TheGurkha]

Well, not really open-source, but community-driven!

The Pub in my village in North Wales, UK, closed, changed hands and re-opened a few times but closed again at each attempt. Then it went up for auction. It didn't sell.

So the villagers have got together and formed a co-operative to run it on behalf of the the village itself! A TV crew are filimg it to make a documentary to be shown later in the year.

Here's our web site: www.raveninn.co.uk

And here's a newspaper article about it.
http://www.eveningleader.co.uk/news/77400/stricken-flintshire-pub-to-star-in-save-our-boozer-tv-show.aspx

[MikeTheC]

Interesting. I guess I can understand why the community wouldn't want a historic business or location to go into ruin, but I'll admit it does surprise me they'd undertake the financial liability considering the state of the British economy.

[TheGurkha]

Well, some pubs are still making money - the ones that get frequented. And the ones that get frequented are the nice, well run ones that provide what the customers are after. They think they can deliver that.

And there's been a shift (because of the economy) where a portion of those people who regularly went to restaurants now go to good-food pubs instead. They still eat out, but they look for quality food at a cheaper price. The effects of the economy are complex.