The Bell benefits from the unfortunate demise of so many pubs in Britain - it is an ill wind. It has been continuously profitable during the whole of the Ian Wood management, thanks to the mix of staff and customers made possible by his distinctive style of 'letting things take care of themselves' - so long as the books look ok at the end of each month.
The Bell seems to qualify for the HMRC scheme of tax relief on cooperative investments, because it falls into the category of a 'high-risk' small business - which is where the ill wind comes into it. There is no reason that the books should suddenly take a nose-dive into unprofitability, especially as the Chancellor of the Exchequer knocked 1p off the price of a pint, the same day as the close of the share option!
Ian has been extremely altruistic in offering the period of time needed to launch a successful public take-over, and we all know that his commitments extend somewhat further than trousering a load of cash and waving goodbye - which is THE main reason why this launch has been so successful.
Ian went into a record book when he took over the tenancy of the Hat and Feather all those years ago, for being the youngest landlord in Britain. On his exit from the pub trade, he has gone into the record books again, for creating the only town or city-centre pub to be taken over by a cooperative share investment scheme.
Hats off to him, I say, and I hope he will hang around long enough for his long experience to be made use of by the management, at least for the immediate short-term.
The price was set from the start, and everyone knew it - including some sharks swimming around in the water who would have dearly liked to turn it into a gastro - or worse - sports bar.