What s next for The Crown?

What s next for The Crown?

1 The Elmhurst Foundation A local charity, based in Bath, and focusing on the South West region. The Elmhurst Foundation was set up to create apprenticeships, to facilitate health and wellbeing, and to share the benefits of our work with the community. Earlier this year we were delighted to learn that The Crown Inn was for sale, and very happy indeed to be able to buy this lovely building. The social enterprise that is at the heart of our plan requires Master Craftsmen, with a lifetimes experience in their field and who are keen to nurture and develop apprentices, to share their expertise, passing on as much of their knowledge as is possible to Elmhurst Apprentices. Elmhurst Apprenticeships will be of the highest possible standard and will provide learning and experience in the chosen subject, together with interesting and varied access to wider learning in the community. As each Apprentice qualifies and, with our help and guidance, moves into their first employment in their chosen field, this creates the next opportunity behind them for the new Apprentice to join. And so our provision is perpetual, and with the support and encouragement of our customers, friends and volunteers, provides the virtuous circle that is of the heart of our organisation. E hello@elmhurstfoundation.org W www.elmhurstfoundation.org T 07464 091 965 The Elmhurst Foundation Charity No 1126479 Elmhurst Foundation

2 What s next for The Crown? A village landmark As most of you will know from Bob Veitch s valuable research, The Crown has had a long and varied life. Well known as a coaching inn, The Crown also has a long history as a multi-use space. Many local businesses have made The Crown their home over the years. In around 1757 the building housed a saddlery, in 1827 there was a resident tailor and in 1910 a butchers shop. We believe that The Crown could lend itself again as a multi-use venue. We feel it would make the ideal Community Hub for Marshfield, becoming a meeting place for residents and a centre for activity and creativity on the high street. A building in need... The Elmhurst Foundation purchased The Crown in May 2016, a wonderful building, but in desperately poor condition. The Elmhurst Foundation team are looking forward to tackling this challenge. We can see how important this old coaching inn is to the village and heritage of Marshfield, how lovely it could be and how much potential it has to offer as a Community Hub on the high street. Fulfilling our charity s purpose... We would like to apply for a Heritage Enterprise grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund to carefully and sympathetically restore The Crown, and establish a social enterprise apprentice training facility here. As a social enterprise all revenues generated will be redirected back into the business to achieve our three core objectives: to provide quality training for apprentices to promote health and wellbeing to promote heritage building crafts and skills For the Elmhurst Foundation, the fact that The Crown is in need of specialist restoration and sympathetic repair represents an amazing opportunity. The restoration of The Crown could be an ideal way to bring together master craftsmen and apprentices in collaboration with Bath College and other local colleges, to help develop their existing heritage skills apprenticeship programme. A Community Hub in Marshfield At a meeting about The Crown in January 2014, residents expressed a wish that the building could remain in community use. We understand that some residents believe it has a future as a pub, but that others feel there isn t enough trade in the village for three pubs to thrive. Heritage Enterprise grants do not support residential development, so a affordable housing scheme has been ruled out as an option. The Marshfield Parish Plan survey in 2012 identified a need for start up units within the community. The building could be adapted to offer serviced office space or treatment rooms for therapy practitioners. We could offer affordable, purpose-built, modern workshops for a variety of practical uses. This could include spaces for artists, potters, weavers, jewellers and other craftspeople. We could incorporate catering facilities within the buildings. Our ideal choice would be a healthy-eating café. The larger rooms at The Crown could host a programme of exhibitions and educational events.

3 What s next for The Crown? Our suggested model doesn t have an exact precedent, but comparisons could be drawn locally with The Black Swan and Forward Space in Frome and The Glove Factory in Holt. The large car park on site was identified in the Parish Plan as a possible solution to alleviate pressure in the High Street and we wish to retain this much needed community asset. It could also become a venue in its own right, hosting outdoor farmers and artisan market days in conjunction with the existing market in the Church Hall. Local employment and training opportunities... Elmhurst s Community Hub at The Crown will be staffed by the apprentices training at the site. We will deliver continuous, valuable apprenticeship employment here for the benefit of the local community. We will also need to recruit a core team of local mentors to pass on their lifetime of experience in heritage crafts, business, finance and catering to trainees who are starting out in their careers. It is our hope that The Crown will become a community hub building that will be well supported by residents and draw visitors from outside of the village. We hope that residents and business owners will embrace this as a boost to the local economy and a benefit to the high street. Please tell us what you think... With your support we are keen to progress an application for a Heritage Enterprise grant in November 2016, which will enable us to carry out a comprehensive restoration programme and bring The Crown back into community use. By working together, we hope to create an enduring legacy that will inspire other communities around the UK to follow suit whilst achieving something really unique here in Marshfield. We are keen to hear your feedback and viable suggestions for The Crown s long term future use. Please share your ideas with us via our survey before 10th November 2016. Please complete our survey at www.elmhurstfoundation.org or pick up a paper copy here today. Deadline for completion is 10th November 2016

4 What is a Heritage Enterprise grant? The cost of repairing a neglected historic building is often so high that restoration simply isn t commercially viable. Heritage Enterprise makes such schemes possible by funding some of the repair costs with grants Historic buildings can attract thriving businesses and boost economic growth. And yet many lie vacant and derelict because of the high costs involved in rescuing them. The Heritage Lottery Fund launched a new grant scheme in 2013 Heritage Enterprise - specifically to address this problem. Heritage Enterprise grants are primarily for enterprising charities and community organisations to help them rescue neglected historic buildings and return them to a viable productive use. It is for projects that seek to achieve economic growth by investing in heritage. Heritage Enterprise grants bridge the funding gap that prevent a historic asset in need of repair from being returned to a beneficial and commercial use. The case for grant funding will depend on there being a conservation deficit. This is where the existing value of a heritage asset plus the cost of bringing it back into use is greater than the value of the asset after development has been completed. The HLF want the projects they fund through the Heritage Enterprise programme to clearly demonstrate why investing in heritage is good for business and good for the economy as a whole. The Elmhurst Foundation team wish to apply for a Heritage Enterprise Development Grant to develop our social enterprise initiative and restore sympathetically the Crown Inn in Marshfield. We have been advised that this project could be a really good fit with the Heritage Enterprise grant programme, not just because it will bring this lovely, historic building back into use as a community hub in Marshfield, but also because it will deliver valuable Heritage Skills training opportunities through the physical work that will take place here on site. If we are lucky enough to receive a development grant, a team of us will work hard on the planning phase throughout 2017, with teams of master craftsmen and apprentices commencing on site in early 2018. The deadline for our application is w/c 21st November 2016. We hope you will support us!

5 A Plan for the Future... Our Architects plans for a new beginning for The Crown

6 A Plan for the Future... Our Architects plans for a new beginning for The Crown

7 A building in need... Outside, Courtyard and Car park

8 A building in need... Ground Floor, First Floor and Cellars