Shares will be offered in The Castle Tap CIC at £50.00 each, with a maximum individual purchase of 100 shares during the initial offering. Each shareholder will be entitled to one vote at General Meetings per whole £500 of shareholding. Shareholders with less than £500 of shares will get one vote.
The capital targets are as follows:
An investment in CTCIC is unlikely to yield financial returns. The Company sees the purchase of shares as an investment in the community; the return will be that the pub continues to thrive along its current path, to the benefit of its community.
Due to the rules around Community Interest Companies, a maximum of 35% profit may be extracted in dividends from the company, with 65% retained for investment - this is the mechanism by which the nominated community might benefit from the business's activities. Given the thin margins upon which the hospitality industry operates, any profit derived from The Castle Tap will almost certainly be entirely reinvested into the pub, and not paid out as dividends. Thus, dividends from your shares will be unlikely to pay much in the way of annual returns for the foreseeable future.
The Castle Tap CIC is not a public company, and shares are not listed on any exchanges. Sales of shares are subject to approval by the Board of Directors. While shareholders will be welcome to sell their holding, the Board will be guided by policies such that no one shareholder may gain a controlling stake in the business. This ensures that the company - and therefore The Castle Tap - remains in community hands and retains its founding principles.
Today, pubs are suffering due to rising costs, dropping footfall and changes to drinking habits. This means that there is a real risk to the ability of the pub to take enough revenue to cover costs.
CTCIC's strategy to address this is to focus on increasing footfall through the improvement of facilities, the addition of extra events and addressing concerns from existing patrons in order to retain them as customers.
A significant concern for CTCIC, as with the wider hospitality industry, is rising energy and water bills, as well as business rates. The current deals with suppliers are fixed term, and come up for renewal within 2026.
These costs unfortunately represent a base expenditure that is not attributed to footfall; moreso, they are directly related to keeping the pub open. As such, patronage must be maintained or increased to a level that covers this spend.
There have been a number of security incidents at the pub over its 10 years of operation. CTCIC intends to mitigate these with increased surveillance whilst maintaining a focus on respecting the privacy of patrons. Certain elements of the building will be hardened against intruders.
120 Castle Street is a 200 year old, aging building. While it is Grade II listed, its ownership is separate to the leasehold, and the fabric of the building is therefore generally out of the hands of the CTCIC. There are a number of current concerns about its fabric - certain areas of brickwork need repointing to prevent water ingress; plumbing remains a constant issue in the toilet block; the upstairs quarters are entirely unfit for habitation.
The CTCIC intends to engage with the building's owner in order to address these issues proactively, providing support where possible. There is no shortage of tradespeople counted amongst the patrons of The Castle Tap; leveraging the community to help preserve the building will no doubt be entirely commensurate with its ethos.
Should CTCIC's initial share offering fail to raise enough capital to purchase Trelowen Mor Ltd, all shareholder funds will be returned to shareholders and the company dissolved.
An investment in CTCIC is a financial risk, but it gives the company the best chance to help preserve this unique community.
In the event of the business closing, every attempt will be made to return shareholder funds in full from any sale of the leasehold, with any extra funds being bequeathed to the CTCIC’s nominated beneficiary - Launchpad Reading, the town's main charity supporting those without a home.
Due to policies set out by the Board of CTCIC, there will be limitations placed upon the sale of shares in the Company. This means that the liquidity of any shares is reduced: the speed at which a sale may occur will be impacted by extra checks and restrictions aimed at preserving the community character and diversity of the Company’s shareholders.
