Introduction
There are 3 aims of this survey, all with the objective of helping the Management Committee to define the strategy for the next 5 years, increasing revenue and enabling us to better make the most of our status as a community-owned business:
- Gain feedback on the Shareholders’ view of what NCLP (The New Inn and Community Shop) should be aiming to deliver as a Community asset and which individual services, events and approaches would deliver on this.
- Understanding why The New Inn currently receives the custom of only a relatively small number of the local Shareholder base and community
- Understanding what the Management Committee need to put in place to change this
Background
The New Inn opened for business in April 2017, almost 7 years ago. There was a huge amount of community support for the venture – to raise the money, to refurbish it from top to bottom – and we enjoyed a very successful ‘honeymoon period’ as a business for a few months.
The next couple of years were ‘learning years’ during which the Management Committee learned what it takes to generate a profit (or minimise a loss) for a country pub, as well as being more than a pub and the heart of our local community. By the beginning of 2020, we were seeing month-on-month increases in profitability with the prospect of a ‘bright’ set of results for the year.
The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic was huge, yet we pivoted to takeaways which not only provided some much-needed revenue but also cemented the pub’s role at the heart of the community. A Covid-response sub-committee was quickly convened, every grant available was applied for, and we emerged from the pandemic in reasonable financial shape (particularly compared to many in the hospitality sector).
Despite the government removing the last Covid-19 domestic restrictions on 24th February 2022, we are not yet, sadly, seeing a return to trading volumes of early 2020 and the aim of this survey is to understand this and measures that might be deployed to address it. We are also at the end of our previous ‘5-year Plan’ and will, in January 2023, begin to formulate our next 5-year Plan, making this a very important time to gratefully request open and honest feedback
The Management Committee is acutely aware of its responsibility to the wider community and wishes to know what more can be done to provide enhanced offerings that will be appreciated by all sectors of the community. The MC believes that the planned Community Shop will go some way to assist in this for many, but we are well aware that different people want different things from their community assets.
The Survey
Please complete as much of the survey as you feel able to. Please also use the free-text boxes to share feedback, thoughts and suggestions. All information will be kept confidential and will be anonymized in any analysis. Personal information will be kept strictly confidential in line with our GDPR policy. Unless you type your name, or other identifying details into the form, we will not be able to identify you, so your responses will be anonymous.
Please answer this survey as an INDIVIDUAL. If other household members would like to complete their own survey then that would be much appreciated.
The information in the first 3 questions will help us to understand better the different groups represented within our community, however, completion of the survey, and of all questions, is entirely optional. Some fields are mandatory (marked with a red asterisk), and you will need to pick an answer to these to be able to submit the form.