Second offer rejected for historic Raven pub

CAMPAIGNERS fighting to save the historic Raven Inn at Glazebury have made a second offer to buy the pub – and again had it rejected.
They now fear the owners were “only paying lip service to the community” when they indicated they were prepared to sell the building as a pub.
A spokesman for the Save the Raven group said: “Following a professional valuation by an experienced, RICS registered pub valuer, we were provided with a number of valuations for the Raven.
“Two of those were: 1 for the pub in its current state and 2 as a going concern.
“We made an offer to purchase the Raven, back in August. That offer was at valuation 1. That offer was rejected.
“We have subsequently made a second offer at valuation 2. That offer has also been rejected.
“The Raven has been stripped of the pub fixtures and fittings and most of the kitchen equipment has also gone. We have estimated that it would cost in the region of £100K to renovate, restore and stock as a pub, again.
“We cannot expect our community to pay an unrealistic amount. Also, most community pub projects utilise some bank finance to supplement the money raised by shares. We would not be able to borrow money for an excessively priced purchase.
“We believe the asking price of offers in excess of £400K could only be a viable price if the Raven was sold as a building site.
“In addition to the obvious reason for increasing our offer we also wanted to test the veracity of the owners’ intent to sell the Raven, as a pub. We had come to the conclusion they were only paying lip service to the community, we feel we now have the proof.”
The spokesman said the group were clear they were “in it for the long term” and would vehemently oppose any proposals that would lead to the Raven becoming anything but a pub
“We have good lines of communication with Warrington Borough Council and have kept them updated with the developments as well as being very strong with regard to our concerns.
“We hope the owners will decide to engage with us. We will continually oppose them or any prospective purchaser who seeks to change the use of the Raven.
“We do not see these developments as being negative. It is always better to know exactly what you are up against.
“As we have said previously, the reasons we started this campaign back in January have not changed one bit.
“We are not going anywhere. If it takes months or years to achieve our aims and save the Raven, time is on our side.
“We will keep plugging away, above all else we may need to be very patient.”