The Bevy - More Than a Pub

A group of residents in the Moulsecoomb and Bevendean area of Brighton has formed as a co-operative to reopen their local, the Bevendean Hotel, on Hillside. After the pub was closed down by the police in May 2010 the building was purchased by the East Brighton Trust who converted the upper floor into flats. The local residents won a bid to convert the gutted ground floor into a pub, café, meeting place and kitchen serving the local community. A successful open day was recently held at the pub, with over seventy attendees ranging from older locals from the pigeon club to young families to members of Father John’s church congregation, all desperate for a community space and most handing over their details and telling the co-op about the wide range of practical skills they have.

And that is exactly what the co-op need. They have to start fundraising to make the Bevy project happen but can save considerable costs by tapping into the wealth of skills and experiences around the estates. The buzz phrase is social capital and that is the community’s unique selling point. People are needed to help with everything from picking up a paint brush to a shovel. People need to feel that it is their space that they have helped to make happen - the first co-operative pub on a housing estate in the whole country.

The co-op is currently preparing to start fundraising. Donations will be converted into shares when the prospectus is launched. A number of local micro breweries are very interested and excited by the project. If you can contribute to the economic and social capital required to make the Bevy venture work, the pub co-op mobile is 07435 649161; donation details can be found at http://www.thebevy.co.uk/donation.html; there is a Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/#!/TheBevy

A few local people remain understandably apprehensive but hopefully as the co-op’s strapline says, the Bevy will be so much more than just a pub. As one couple from Hillside said "just where can you go to meet your neighbours round here?"

My thanks to Warren Carter, Co-op Chair and Darren Edwards, Committee Member, for supplying the original copy from which this Blog was created. Thanks also for their permission to use images from the Bevendean Cooperative Pub Facebook page.