Old Mill advisers help save historic Bath music venue
Rock stars including Robert Plan and The Vaccines help support the sale of The Bell Inn
ADVISERS HAVE WORKED alongside some of the UK’s most popular rock artists, including Peter Gabriel and Robert Plant, to save an historic Bath music venue.
Accountants Old Mill, with solicitors Thrings, advised a £500,000 fundraising campaign that saw members of the music fraternity either buy shares or send messages of support to save The Bell Inn venue.
Other supporters of the cause included Glastonbury founder Michael Eavis and Midge Ure. More contemporary outfits such as The Darkness and The Vaccines were also involved.
A bid for the pub was put together after owner of 24 years, Ian Wood, announced he was to put the Walcot Street pub on the market.
“We were keen to do everything right with this project and wanted to have a team of good professionals behind us to add weight and respectability to our bid,” said pub general manager Patrick Cave.
“We had to act fast as our share offer was open for just five weeks. We managed to raise £787,000 in that time and along with the bank loan make an offer of £920,000, which was accepted.”
Old Mill’s Tim Lerwill said: “We were very happy to have assisted in such an amazing project. The Bell Inn Community Buyout team have shown just what is possible when you pull together; maybe other communities will follow suit and Co-Ops will become more common.”
It has been a busy time for Old Mill. The southern firm has also hired Elaine Kinsella as its head of tax.
She began her career with Price Waterhouse in 1998, before moving onto KPMG and Capital One Bank. Most recently she served as a tax partner at Milstead Langton.
