New era for “Amp” as Community-Owned lease comes to an end

The community saved this Headington pub but now new tenants are taking over

You wouldn’t expect an estate pub on the edge of Oxford to be busy on a Wednesday lunchtime in late November, but that’s what I found when visiting the Ampleforth Arms in Risinghurst, an estate bordering Headington. Not a lot of beer was being drunk, for sure, but the two groups enjoying coffee and snacks – one for dementia suffers and another for the over-60s – were playing their part in keeping this pub open.

The sight of so many people meeting here must give a lot of satisfaction to the unpaid management team who have done so much work to support the “Amp” over the last nine years both before and after it re-opened, finally, in 2017. So why are they giving up? It’s not without some regret, but to put it simply their work is done, it’s time to move on and they are offering full support to the incoming tenants who take over next Friday, December 1.

Unlike most Community-Owned pubs in Oxfordshire, the Amp is leased rather than owned outright – in this case, from Heineken-owned Star Pubs and Bars. The only other pub following this model in the county is the White Hart in Wolvercote, owned by a private individual. The group running the Amp still feel there is a future for leasing rather than purchase of a property, but there are downsides too.

The outgoing Amp management team, from left: Tim Lamberstock, Lyn Simms and Liz Taylor

Lyn Simms, Tim Lamberstock and Liz Taylor have put their all into rallying the locals to lease the pub and then run it, and understandable fatigue is one reason they are handing over the lease. The Amp was closed for more than three years before they re-opened it in 2017, and was closed on and off for several years beforehand as successive tenants failed to make a go of it. Now, however, it’s different.

“I would urge people to go down the leasing route if that’s an option, to ensure that the pub keeps open,” said Lyn. “The group trying to save the Red Lion in Yarnton did their best to buy that pub, but didn’t attract the big investors they needed.”

Tim added: “Leasing is often not considered, but there is minimal outlay involved which is good in hard times. The work we have done here proves that leasing can work, and that pub companies will now consider it.”

The downsides of leasing include not being in full control, and not being able to source beers and other drinks as a free house – the Amp remains tied to Star. Another disadvantage is that people investing only a couple of hundred pounds may not be motivated to ensure the pub is a success, whereas if they have invested many thousands, they have more than a financial stake in it.

Most of the Community-Owned pubs around Oxfordshire and around the country are in rural locations, often the last remaining pub in a village, and that affects funding options. An urban pub such as the Amp would not be able to get funding from organisations such as the Plunkett Foundation, set up specifically to support rural projects.

Pub companies might be more likely to listen to community approaches to lease pubs now that many councils have become reluctant to allow conversions of pubs to residential or retail use. Oxford City Council recently refused an application to redevelop the Crown and Thistle in Headington for housing, although the pub has stood derelict for 12 years. All eyes are now on the council’s decision over the future of the closed Chequers in Headington Quarry, whose private owner wants to use it as a house.

Lyn, Tim and Liz will continue to rally community support for the Amp under its new management, who will be able to offer a more varied and regular food service than has been the case since re-opening. Many sports groups also meet here, but the most important thing is that Risinghurst still has a community pub when some estates in Oxford have no pub at all.

“It took a long time and an awful lot of work to build this up, and originally we only opened one side of the pub before opening the whole thing,” recalled Lyn. “At that time it was owned by Punch Partnerships, but the same people were in charge when Star took over. They wanted to get around regulations by retaining a small pub and developing the rest for housing, and at first they wouldn’t budge in their determination to sell it. Because it had failed under different tenants, they claimed it was not fit to trade.

“I remember going to a meeting with the city council with representatives from the Jack Russell (a now demolished pub in Marston) to argue our case for keeping it open, and it was a difficult pitch. But now the council might say no to any more pub conversions. The only way a pub can survive nowadays is to involve the whole of the community.”

Tim agreed: “You can’t keep doing the same thing any more, you have to move with the times as people don’t drink as much as they used to. They need new reasons to keep coming in.

“By the end of last year, with energy costs so high, we had to decide what to do. We had put in so much effort but more people weren’t coming forward to help, and we couldn’t really see a future in it. If this pub closed it would be a serious loss.”

A farewell event is planned for Thursday evening, November 30, when the new tenants will be introduced. The Amp normally sells two real ales at around £4.30 a pint, usually from the Star list but occasionally by local breweries too.