A word of caution in the situation we find ourselves in is always wise Duncan and I have started to look into what might be involved if we start charging for attendance of say £2 per car paid over the the venue owner.
With the Four Ashes still empty its hard to see it getting back up and running again and even if someone does take it on they will have years of neglect and lost custom to put right which wont be easy and is probably why so many tenants come in with good intentions but quickly realise there are not enough people through the door to be able to make a go at it so they leave and the cycle starts all over except this time its come to a halt. You would think the brewery would give someone a real chance and maybe vastly reduce the rent to allow trade to be built back up but its still currently available at an ingoing cost of £9,500.00 and rent of £17,600.00 so cant be easy. There used to be a monthly classic car meet there and the large field was full of a variety of real classics, everything from a Bond Bug to an E type , or An Austin Healey to a Ferrari, goodness knows where they all came from but there were hundreds of potential customers for the pub and it was closed down by the police due to very bad event management, personally I would be trying to resurrect those meets again and proving that they can be managed to suit the authorities.
So it maybe time to consider moving anyway from the Ashes and we have 2 potential new venues which we will look at early in the New Year, both would involve a charge per car but remove the obligation to use the pub or other facilities allowing people to do as they please in that respect.
I have had an initial look at what is involved if we charge and it doesnt seem too bad, public liability insurance is not mandatory but might be advisable, more below:
" There is no law that says you must buy insurance for a voluntary or community event – but you might want to make sure you are covered in case something goes wrong and someone makes a claim against you. Having public liability insurance may give you peace of mind, but it’s good planning, not insurance that stops things going wrong.Sometimes another body, perhaps a local council you have contact with or someone that you contract with (such as a landowner if the event is taking place on their land), will require you to have public liability insurance. If this is the case you can ask why they are requiring this because it is not compulsory in law. Sometimes signing a disclaimer will be adequate instead of buying insurance "
https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... ary-events