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Popular FAQs |
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The aim of this page is to bring together the answers to some of the popular FAQs which you may have. Much of the information here may already be on our website, or in emails, but this is intended with further clarity.
Questions have been grouped into sections to make it easier for you to find information. If you have any questions which are not covered here, please feel free to contact us at info@theswanwindsor.co.uk
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Who are the current directors / board of The Swan Clewer Community Interest Company? | Willie Calvert of Windsor & Eton Brewery and Richard Allen of The Green Room School in Windsor are the current directors of SCCIC. Richard Douglas is the Company Secretary but will be stepping down shortly. |
| Are you a registered charity? | No. The Community Interest Company is a legal form for enterprises which aim to benefit the community or trade with a social purpose rather than just to make a profit. So SCCIC will operate as a limited company but with restrictions, such as over what it can do with any profits, to safeguard that community interest. However, The Green Room is a registered charity, so charitable donations may be made to the project via them. |
| How does SCCIC plan to communicate with shareholders / investors on an ongoing basis? | We will hold general meetings, at least annually, for all shareholders. The committee for The Friends of The Swan also send regular emails to keep you updated and informed on our progress and events. To join our mailing list, visit the Contact Us page. |
| Will the directors be taking a salary during the initial phases? | The directors will take no salary until the Swan is trading profitably. Depending on their ongoing time commitment they could then do so, consistent with Community Interest Company regulations. |
| Do the directors have any thoughts on a future exit strategy – or on how long-term their investment might be? | Both directors regard SCCIC as a long-term partner to their current businesses so currently have no plan to exit within 10 years. |
| Do you have a business plan and can this be shared with investors / donors? | The Prospectus can be downloaded via this link. After clicking, you will find the Prospectus in the download directory associated with your browser. |
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| If I loan over £100, when will I be able to claim my beer/services? | Loans are now repayable. Contact the bar if you have not redeemed your loan yet. If you want to donate it, please email us at info@thesdwanwindsor.co.uk and we will use it to raise further money. |
| If I make a charitable donation via The Green Room, can I be sure it will be used for The Swan? | Yes. The Green Room are holding all charitable donation made to them in relation to The Swan in a special, restricted account for use in support of The Swan. All of these donations are included in the total amount raised to dateand shared via the website and social media. If anyone is interested in making a charitable donation – and possibly taking advantage of corporation tax relief, please feel free to contact us and we can explain how to do this. Remember if you are a UK tax payer, this donation can also benefit from Gift Aid. |
| Are A and B (Founder) Class shares worth the same? | There are two types of shares, each bearing the same rights to dividends and general meeting attendance. A-shares will be voting shares available to business investors who must (as individuals or on behalf of their businesses) invest at least £100,000 in shares, a further £25,000 as an interest-free loan, provide a further personal guarantee, and manage a revenue stream for SCCIC. Due to their involvement in SCCIC they may not benefit from SITR. |
| Will I be able to sell my shares at a later date / take my money back out of the business if I need it? | Shares in the Swan Clewer CIC will be transferable. Please contact us for details. |
| If the pub is not successful, will donors/investors be liable for any costs? | Should the business fail later at any point in the future, then all shareholders risk losing their share value. However impact on community shareholders will be mitigated by SITR. The directors won’t receive this protection and have made an additional personal guarantee in order to meet the terms and conditions of the bank mortgage. |
| If the pub is not successful will I get my money back? | As above. |
| How long do you expect it to take for the pub to become profitable? | It is planned that the pub will start to trade profitably soon after start-up but that the funds that this generates will be re-invested in site refurbishment for at least five years – until we have a place that we’re proud of. At that point we’ll start to pay shareholders a dividend. The biggest factor in the timing of this is how popular the pub is and hence how well it trades. |
| Can the directors decide to sell the company at any time in the future? | Like any shareholder they can sell if their shares if they can find a willing buyer, but both directors' motivation is to align their current businesses to the long term interests of the community and, as the CIC structure prohibits shareholders benefiting from sale of assets, there is no obvious financial incentive for them to do so. |
| What will happen if the directors decide to sell the company in the future? Will I get my investment back – and any other returns? | See above – we haven't investigated this yet. |
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Do you need volunteers to help with refurbishment work? | Yes! We will need volunteers for all kinds of work if/when we get the keys to the door. This will require significant planning and organisation, but we will be sending out calls for skilled and unskilled volunteers when we need them. Please join our Facebook and Twitter groups to make sure you hear about this first. |
| I've volunteered but haven't heard yet | Further information can be found on the Volunteers page. |
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Will the pub be child / dog friendly? | Yes! We aim to be an inclusive venue for all sections of our community. However, we will need to abide by all relevant laws in relation to children and animals on licenced premises, serving food. It is therefore possible that there will be an evening cut off time for children to be in the pub. |
| Will the pub only sell Windsor & Eton Brewery beers, or will other options be available? | Willie Calvert, through the pub manager, will be responsible for ensuring a popular range of products for the pub. This will inlcude, but not limited to, produce from the Windsor & Eton Brewery |
| You describe the pub as cycle friendly – what does that mean in practice? | The pub is ideally placed to welcome cyclists for rest stops and overnight stays as it is located on two national cycle routes. We have not finalised all plans yet, but suggestions so far include safe overnight storage options for those staying at the bed and breakfast, an area suitable for cyclists to ‘park’ their bikes whilst taking a well-earned break at the pub and a small ‘shop’ to provide essential equipment such as spare inner tubes and tools. We are open to ideas though, so if there is anything that the cycling community feel we could do to help them we are more than happy to consider it. |
| Will there be parking onsite, as this is very difficult in the Mill Lane area? | It is recognised that Mill Lane is a residential area with limited parking options and unfortunately there is no free space in which to ‘create’ a car park. Whilst there is a courtyard associated with the pub, our intention is to turn this into an attractive beer garden and location for events such as craft markets, fairs and other activities of interest to the community. |
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| How will The Green Room School be involved with The Swan? | The Green Room is developing a graduate programme for their older students in order to help them transition from the school environment to the world of work via training courses, work experiences and employment in a safe environment. Therefore, interested and able students may work in the kitchen, bed and breakfast, café, restaurant or other suitable areas of the business. This social enterprise aspect of the business, aiming to give young people with additional needs an opportunity to progress in life is essential to the philosophy and ethos of The Swan Clewer Community Interest Company. |
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| I am not receiving the emails, why? | There are a number of things to try:
If you do continue to have problems, then please email us at info@theswanwindsor.co.uk. Using our experience, we will try our best to help you as much as possible. |
| How can I tell your email is not a spoof? | All our emails will come from pre-defined people:
We do have other email addresses but these are all inbound. You will only receive an email from them if you have sent us one in the first place and we are responding to it. Additionally we will always address you personally within the email. Also your name and email address will be added at the foot of the email to further confirm it's authenticity. If you have any doubts at all about an email:
We will respond as quickly as possible to your query. |
| I often receive two email from The Swan, why? | We use a popular tool called MailChimp to send our email. It is secure and a leading player within this sector of communications. MailChimp uses technologies to know when an email has been opened or not. If an email has not been opened within 24h - 48h, we will resend it to you. This is industry best practice and we gain over 100 new readers by doing so. We continue to review this policy and may change it should readership fall. |
| The navigation menu isn't working properly, why? | Make sure you have Javascript enabled. We use this technology to determine the size of your device/screen and adapt the navigation menu appropriately. You will need to go into your browser's settings to enable this. Javascript is an industry standard for websites.
We also use Javascript to control audio media on the press/media page and to allow subscription to our emails. It is also used to control information presentation on our shop and meet the team pages. |
| Am not using email or don't want to use a business email address. Where else can I read the weekly email? | We publish the weekly email to all those who have subscribed. We also make it available via a post to social media and blogs which will include a link to it. This includes, but is not limited to, the following:
You can find links for the more popular ones below. Simply click on the icon to be taken to our page. |
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| What is the Bevy? | It is The Swan members club. |
| Why have The Swan launched the Bevy? | To recognise the people that supported The Swan and bring the community together once the pub is opened |
| Who will be part of the Bevy? | It is for founder investors, people who have loaned money and volunteers who have gone above and beyond the call of duty (as selected by Richard Allen/Will Calvert). |
| How will people become part of the Bevy? | Once the pub is open eligible people will be invited to join the Bevy. |
| What do you get as part of the Bevy? | Details are being finalised but there will be perks such as exclusive invites to special Bevy members nights, early bird booking for events and discounts off certain new products. |
| Is the Bevy free? | Yes, and membership is free for life. |
| If I haven’t invested or loaned money can I join the Bevy? | Loans are still being accepted up until Friday 24th May 2019 so it is not too late to be part of the founding members of the Bevy. Plus you will be repaid at twice the value of the loan in food and drink when funds allow. |
