The short version
It’s on the market at £200k, costing about £750 a month to sit empty. There’s roughly £165k owed against it — £40k to you, £125k to Mum and Dad. A sale near £200k clears the lot and leaves you free.
The charity and CIC ideas are off the table — both still left you carrying it, which is the one thing you don’t want. So it comes down to the three moves below, all running at once.
The plan
It’s already on the market. Hold out for a good price rather than dropping it in a panic. Around £200k clears everything you owe — the £40k to you, the £125k to Mum and Dad — and you walk away with a clean slate.
What it means for you — Zero weight. No building, no roof, no bleed. You keep the Warren name and can do whatever you like with it next.
Put the word out: “The Warren’s here, the kitchen’s ready, come pitch me your idea.” A Dragon’s-Den-style call. Someone runs it — as The Warren, or their own thing — pays you rent, and takes on the rates and the trading risk. Could be a restaurateur, a community group, anyone.
What it means for you — The ~£750 a month stops, someone else carries the day-to-day, and it buys time for everything else. You’re the landlord, not the one on the floor.
A Benefit Society and a community share offer — raise around £100k, add a social mortgage, and a community buys the building off you. It only goes ahead if real people pledge money or time first (the “people test”), and Berian drives the outreach and paperwork with you — not you alone.
What it means for you — If it flies, you sell to them and walk away with the brand — you don’t even have to be part of it. If the people don’t show, nothing’s lost and Phases 1 and 2 carry on.
What happens now
Everything else can wait. These are the only two things on top of the pile.
You (Deri)
Cancel the building broadband — ring them, ask about any exit fee. That’s £100 a month gone.
Jot two lists — people who might pitch to run the space now, and people who might back a community buy.
Me (Berian)
Call Eddie about the gas and electric tariff — see what we can cap or fix for the next six months.
Ring Cwmpas (free advice) on Benefit Society vs CIC, and start the campaign site if Phase 3 has legs.
In the background, no rush: the accountant needs to nail the £40k and the £50k bounceback so the numbers are clean, and a chat with Ruth about how a community food business really works would be gold. None of it blocks the two calls above.
The one thing that doesn’t change
Whatever happens to the building — sold to a stranger, bought by a community, or run by someone new — the Warren name stays yours. It’s not part of the sale. That’s the real asset: the name, the reputation, the mailing list. Sell the bricks, keep the Warren.
Over to you
Thumbs on each phase above, or just a line here. It saves as you type and nothing reaches me until you hit send.
