A CAMPAIGN group has begun paying money back to investors after losing its bid to create Bradford’s first community pub.

Members of the Friends of the Kings Arms Community Benefit Society have worked for the past year to try and save the 200-year-old pub of the same name in Highgate, Heaton, which it described as the “last in the village.”

But after another developer bought the building prior to it going to auction, the group lost its long-running battle and has now started to repay around 150 supporters who donated more than £110,000 via a community shares scheme.

The former Enterprise Inns-owned pub, which is listed as an Asset of Community Value, closed in May last year and was on the market for around £235,000.

The group states that the building is now set to be converted to a private house, and has previously indicated it would oppose any planning application of that nature should one be submitted to Bradford Council.

The society said that after commissioning expert surveys and valuations of the site, it believed it had submitted an offer that offered a “good price” for the building.

After their bid was refused, they were ready to mount a last-ditch effort to secure the pub at auction, but the lot was removed at the last minute.

Group chairman Sonja McNally said the successful bidder had then entered negotiations to possibly sell the building on to the society, but they couldn’t match the minimum amount the buyer was asking for.

“It’s very sad, and it has hit a lot of people hard,” she said.

“There’s been so much time and effort put into this. It would have been something very special for Heaton, but it wasn’t to be.

“It’s been a rollercoaster of a year, and we’ve been so close.

“But we were dealing with other people’s money, and we just couldn’t go to the amount the developer wanted.”

The society’s steering group met weekly during the planning of the project, securing further funding in grants and loans and the support of The Plunkett Foundation’s ‘More Than a Pub’ scheme, which has assisted a number of pubs across the country now owned by community cooperative societies.

Mrs McNally said despite the group’s failure to save the pub, members would continue to meet and had organised a buffet evening fundraiser at Paprika restaurant in Heaton on May 21 to help cover outstanding legal costs from their bid.

She added: “We now class ourselves as the friends in exile group, and we want to keep the company going and carry on meeting.

“We also want to do more events to help keep people together. Despite what has happened, we don’t want to be despondent.”