Our Vision
With shareholder support and other funding, we purchased the Exelby Green Dragon as a community asset to restore it to its former glory. It is now refurbished and improved and re-established as a successful pub serving both the local community and visitors to the area.
Our priorities for the site are:
- To revitalise the pub as a thriving business serving good quality food, beers, wines and spirits
- To reinstate the cottage attached to the pub as viable, affordable and comfortable accommodation
- To establish a community shop/delicatessen and café
- To encourage a range of social activities in the pub and grounds which rekindle the spirit of the village and meet community needs
Our Approach
WHO WE ARE
Exelby is a rural lower Dales village community of about 80 households approximately three miles from Bedale in North Yorkshire.
Inspired by the growing number of community owned pubs that have revitalised local communities elsewhere, Exelby Green Dragon Group was formed at the end of 2016 with the aim of revitalising the Green Dragon. This constituted community group coalesced around 12 people with varied personal and professional backgrounds to start to explore the possibilities.
After successfully applying for the pub and associated land to be listed as an Asset of Community Value, and with no interest from other potential purchasers, the community came together to mount a successful bid for the property.
The steering group morphed into the Exelby Green Dragon Community Pub Ltd to do this. This is a legal entity and is constituted as a Community Benefit Society (a form of Co-Op).
The Society’s Purpose is to carry on business for the benefit of the community by supporting and promoting the Green Dragon, Exelby as a community pub, village shop, hub and an asset of community value. We foster community cohesion, combat social isolation and promote health and wellbeing through activities, services and facilities in and around Exelby. You will find the Rules of the Society here.
This gave the group a status to be able to negotiate formally with the owners, seek funding opportunities with grants and loans as well as having the ability to issue a share offer. The Community Benefit Society status also acted to limit the financial liability of those involved and gave the former steering group the necessary credentials to move the project forward, formally negotiate and act as a purchaser.
6 Members of the steering group formed the Management Committee of the new Community Benefit Society. This Management Committee now stands at 9 members, the maximum allowed under our rules.
There is an open invitation for anyone who is interested to become a Board Member, if you feel that you can bring something to bring to the table or you would like support to get involved.
It is very much hands on and do in approach and so far, the main work has been around funding, securing the renovation work, community activities and managing finances.
Our Story
Meet the Team
We are all residents of Exelby or the nearby area with a a fundamental commitment to developing the Green Dragon as a vibrant pub and vital community resource for generations to come.
Peter Simpson
Chair
Former Chief Executive of Hambleton and Richmondshire District Councils with extensive experience of strategic management, planning and delivery of a wide range of public sector services and projects. Previous experience as a business owner. Currently operating own joinery, plumbing and home renovation business.
Lucinda riddell
Director
Moved to Exelby in October 2018 from Brompton on Swale, having lived in North Yorkshire for the last 13 years. The County has very much become home for myself and my husband, Nick as we are not originally from the area.
A Director at GSC Grays and a qualified Chartered Surveyor who specialises in property, land and estate management.
As soon as we moved to the village we became shareholders of the EGD pub and were very excited to have a pub in walking distance of the house. I am now looking forward to becoming involved in the pub moving forwards which has been fantastic in enabling us to meet people from the village and settle into the community.
Jim Haigh
Director
Jim is an Architect and Managing Director of an architectural practice. Jim (and Jo) moved into Exelby in 2020; a decision influenced by having a great community pub. What more is there to say!
George Cornwall-Legh
Vice Chair
A qualified Chartered Surveyor and currently a Director at JLL with over 10 years’ experience in the commercial property sector with a focus on fund and asset management.
John Walker
Secretary
A business development consultant with extensive experience of working for local and national not for profit organisations across the UK and has acted as a governmental advisor on community development. John is a Trustee of a number of Yorkshire based charitable organisations.
Alasdair Campbell
Director
Barrister with a passion for the local community and the provision of excellent public services.
Paul Johnston
Director
Married to Jayne for 35 years with 4 children
We moved to Exelby in 2019 having previously lived in Wakefield, Northern Ireland and Spain.
I joined the police force as a Cadet in 1971 and was posted to Harrogate. I moved to Morley in 1974 and stayed in West Yorkshire until my retirement in 2005. Apart from a period in uniform as the divisional commander at Bradford Central, I held various ranks and posts as a detective in the CID, the Special Branch, the Fraud Squad and as a senior investigating officer, finally becoming the head of CID and homicide and major crime investigation.
I am still working although I do intend to retire soon. Currently I chair statutory domestic homicide reviews on behalf of Community Safety Partnerships up and down the country and I am also an end-point assessor for universities who run the Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship programme.
linda graham
Treasurer
I moved to the Ripon area with my husband Keith in 1989 to take a job at Wolseley in the IT department. We’d always liked the area and the job was just a perfect fit for my skillset.
To give you an idea about my character, when we were hunting at that time, the driving factors where ……. is it in a village? and…… does it have a pub?
We started out in a small cottage in Copt Hewick (next door but one to the pub) and now live in Wath (two doors from the pub) – you get the general idea!
We are social people who love to spend time with our friends laughing and swapping stories, in a cosy local, over a pint or two.
I became a shareholder of EGD Community Pub and have been amazed at what has been achieved and would very much like to be part of this going forwards.
I like to be kept busy and I feel can offer something in terms of my organisational and management skills, my understanding of basic accountancy and the ways of working of a committee and if all else fails get my hands dirty cleaning, digging whatever
My hobbies include Dog Training to competition standard, and I am the Principle Cornet player for Ripon City Band.
Join Us...
If you would like to join us on our journey, or have ideas about how we can make the Exelby Green Dragon even more exciting for the whole community then please get in touch...