William Hague joins pub co-op

Former Tory leader William Hague has teamed-up with 150 members of his constituency to re-open a pub.

Hague, MP for Richmond in Yorkshire, is part of the co-operative who have all bought shares in the George and Dragon in Hudswell, which will re-open next month after being closed for two years.

He told The Publican​: "I bought a small stake to help them out. I am looking forward to the re-opening."

The group, in conjunction with law firm Muckle LLP, created an Industrial and Provident Society (IPS) to buy the pub from the Commercial First Bank.

Members paid between £500 and £20,000 for a share in the business.

Paul Cullen, chairman of the Hudswell Community Pub Initiative (HCPI), said: "It was important that most of the support came from the village - 42 per cent of shareholders are from Hudswell. The business must benefit the community in some way.

"We found that people were getting involved for the right reasons - most who put money in said they wanted to support the pub altruistically."

The HCPI also received £50,000 finance from the Rural Access to Opportunities programme, along with £20,000 investment from the Key Fund Yorkshire.

And the co-op could be a sign of similar things to come after pubs minister John Healey last month made £4m of government funding available for similar projects.

But Paul said the onus will remain on communities to make co-ops work.

It's not a lot of money and will not go far. Ultimately you have to have your own community involved to make it the community's pub," he said.

The group has now chosen tenants and have further plans to provide allotments for local residents onsite, as well as six B&Bs.