Buy Shares

If you want to join us by buying shares in the Ivy House, the minimum investment is two shares at £100 each (£200). There is a maximum investment of £20,000 per individual or organisation (i.e. 200 shares). The shares we are offering are referred to as “A” Shares in our Rules (see 5 below). Each member has one vote regardless of the number of shares held and, if you choose to hold shares in joint names with another person, you will still have one vote between the two of you. You must be 18 years of age or over. You can apply electronically

Now that the pub is showing a profit, we can begin to revisit our longer term plans for maintaining the lovely Grade II listed building and be more ambitious in our vision for how the pub can benefit the local community, while continuing to strengthen the pub’s profitability. The Management Committee is considering plans to increase the pub’s contribution to the community and we’ll be sharing these when they’re ready.

Should the Society be wound up, your loss would be limited to the original value of the shares held. Should the assets be sold on a winding up for greater than the value of share capital, any surplus would not be returned to members but would be invested in another vehicle for the benefit of the community. The Management Committee may, at its sole discretion, propose to pay interest on shares and this would need to be approved by members at the AGM; such interest cannot exceed 5% above the Bank of England’s base rate. No interest may be paid whenever accumulated losses exceed accumulated profit, as is currently the case.

Community shares are not transferable and there is no open market for them. Members can withdraw their shares by giving three months’ notice to the Management Committee and withdrawal will be subject to the Committee’s approval. Requests to buy back shares will be considered by the Management Committee twice a year:
• when the Annual accounts have been completed and
• six months following completion of the annual accounts are finalised
The option to buy back shares will only be open for a 6 week period following each of the opportunities above.
Shares can only be bought back if:
• 3 years have elapsed from the original share issue and having given the Management Committee 3 months’ notice
• the pub’s reserves are positive at that time or alternatively if enough shares have been sold in the last 12 months to offset any buybacks already made in the same period plus the new requests.
• there is a maximum of 10% of the issued shares that can be bought back at any time.
Shares may only be withdrawn at their original value (i.e., £100 each)

The Committee is a team of volunteer shareholders. It provides strategic direction for the pub and its activities but does not manage day-to-day operations, which is the responsibility of the pub management team. You can read about current members of the committee here. We are looking to expand the Committee’s skill set by taking on new members and refreshing the project’s direction. New Committee members may be co-opted by the Committee but must be ratified by members at the AGM.

Funds raised from selling Ivy House shares are used to make improvements to the Ivy House for everyone’s benefit. In order to keep making (and accelerating) improvements and also in order to maintain and increase community involvement in the pub it is essential that we replace any shares that are bought back with new shares and shareholders. Our target moving forward is to increase our shareholder investment so that we can make the Ivy House even better for everyone and make it a true community hub for all ages. Our aim is to sell two new shares for every share that is bought back to help us do this.
In the first few years of the Ivy House project the pub struggled to be profitable. This meant that the pub wouldn’t have been in a position to consider buying back shares during this time. The pub is now significantly busier and more widely supported by local people. Under the current Management things are getting better for the pub. We are gradually improving the financial stability to ensure it remains viable in the long term. We obviously have to be aware of external conditions that can impact this such as the current cost of living crisis and make decisions that safeguard the pub’s future for the benefit of the community.