A CAMPAIGN group bidding to create Bradford's first community pub has raised enough funds to make an official offer for the premises.

The Save The Kings Arms group is hoping to save the 200-year-old pub of the same name, in Highgate, Heaton, which it describes as the "last in the village."

The pub, which is listed as an Asset of Community Value, closed last May and is on the market for around £235,000, and the group has now confirmed it has submitted a bid to the owners, Enterprise Inns.

It set up the Kings Arms Heaton Friends Community Benefit Society, urging people to buy shares of between £250 and £30,000 in the new cooperative company.

The aim was to raise £250,000 to buy, refurbish, and re-open the business, consisting of at least £150,000 via the share offer and £100,000 in grants and loans.

The share offer had been due to close at the end of January, but group chairman Sonja McNally said the deadline had now been extended.

"In the last couple of weeks, share applications have been flooding in and taken the total to more than £70,000 with another £15,000 promised," she said.

"People applying to be members of the society are mainly local, but we have share applications from all parts of the UK and abroad.

"The management committee have decided to extend the share offer until March 3 to give others the chance to be a part of our cooperative community-run pub.

"We are also setting up an online Crowdfunding appeal for people who are further away."

The group has received support from The Plunkett Foundation's 'More Than a Pub' scheme, which has helped more than 50 similar projects across the country, and at its last public meeting on January 24, heard from a group involved in a successful community takeover of The Golden Ball pub in York.

Graham Robinson, treasurer of the society, said: "Funding a project like this is a jigsaw.

"The biggest pieces are the members' share investments and we are adding to this with grant applications and loans from a variety of sources.

"We are delighted with the support we are getting from other cooperatives.

"The PhoneCoop, for example, a national customer-owned telecoms provider, is making a significant investment and offering us a substantial loan facility should we want it."

Group secretary Ingrid Dzerins added: "Interest is clearly growing. We told the last public meeting we had put in an offer to the agents handling the sale of the Kings.

"Offers are closed and the vendors are now considering their options."

The group said that should its offer be accepted, it would look to make the necessary refurbishments to the building in time for a grand re-opening under community ownership in the Spring.

If the bid is unsuccessful, all money pledged will be returned to shareholders.

For further details, visit www.kingsarms-heaton.co.uk.

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