Oxfordshire community group looks for new lessee to run pub

Des O’Flanagan, co-owner of the Crown Inn at Sydenham, told the Publican’s Morning Advertiser that he is looking for someone who can “give quality service, good food and help to provide a good ambience in the pub”.

The co-operative, which is made up of five couples, has been looking for a new lessee since April, and O’Flanagan explained that it is “very difficult” to find the right person.

“I think the press gives the pub trade a bashing and puts a lot of people off from entering it,” he said.

“It’s a very low-risk way of starting your own business.

“The current lessees had no experience of running a pub but they adapted to it very well. I used to run pubs before, so I helped them with parts of it.

“The relationship between a private, small village pub is different to that of a big pub company. There’s a real empathy here, with us wanting the lessee to do well.”

O’Flanagan said that the terms of the free-of-tie lease are negotiable. In terms of rent, he said when the group recruited the current lessees, the application process saw potential lessees submit a business plan including what they thought the rent should be. O’Flanagan said there may be a similar process this time.

The co-operative snapped up the Crown Inn from Admiral Taverns.