Buy The Bell Inn Campaign
You can help us Buy The Bell Inn by either making a donation and/or becoming a Member of the Middleton Community Benefit Society through buying community shares. We have received confirmation from HMRC that we are a charity for tax purposes which enables us to receive donations through the Gift Aid scheme - if you'd like to know more about making a tax efficient donation to our Society, visit our Donate page. Our Share Offer is now live.
If you would like to buy shares, every share bought brings the Bell Inn closer to community ownership, and every shareholder gets an equal say in how the Society is run — one member, one vote, however much you invest.
Please read the Community Share Offer document below, together with our Society Rules. A summary of the Society's business plan is included in the Community Share Offer document. If you require further details these are included in our business plan. We have applied to register our charitable Society with HMRC.
The value of each share issued is £1. The value of shares can go down but cannot go up. The minimum investment is £50 (50 shares), and the maximum is £100,000 (100,000 shares). Shares can only be bought in multiples of 50.
If you are an individual you need to be over 16 years old to invest and, in all cases, have a United Kingdom bank account to buy shares. If you want to buy the shares as a gift for someone else, we can accept payment from your United Kingdom bank account as long as you notify us by email or in writing what you are doing and that you complete an Application Form with your details and not the honorees (apart from their name). Your notification to us must include the honorees full name, address and email address.
Applications must be in a single name — we cannot accept joint applications, or as explained above shares bought as a gift for someone else not in the shareholder’s name.
This document, the Society’s Rules, our Business Plan for buying the Bell Inn are included as PDF files at the end of this section.
There are two stages to buying shares – completing a form or forms and making the payment. Please ensure that you complete at least the Application Form and not just make a payment or your application will be rejected.
The Application Form and Nomination Forms (if you wish to nominate someone to inherit your shares after your death) are included on this page. If you do not complete a Nomination Form your share(s) will revert to the Society after your death.
Our preferred method of payment is by bank transfer as this will save us incurring payment fees. Our bank details are:
Middleton cum Fordley Community Benefit Society
Sort Code: 08 92 99
Account number: 67530173
Please make sure that you use as the reference the initial of your first name, the first three letters of your surname plus your date of birth E.g. John Smith born 12/10/1965 reference would be JSMI121065 when making your payment.
If you pay by cheque, please make sure you write on the reverse side of your cheque your name as it appears on your Application Form, plus the same reference as above. Cheques should be sent to the Middleton Community Benefit Society, 7 Minsmere Rise, Middleton, Saxmundham IP17 3PA.
Please note that the board of directors (management committee) of the Society can refuse any application for shares at their discretion. Payments for shares cannot be made in cash.
Once we have received your payment, completed forms, and accepted your application, and we have purchased the pub you will be issued with a share certificate.
If you are unsure whether to invest, we recommend that you consult a professional adviser.
If you wish an email copy of these forms or need help accessing these please email: enquiries@middletoncbs.org. We can, if you cannot access these forms electronically, supply you with paper copies.