Save the Beer Rebellion

Save the Beer Rebellion!

Message from Matthew

A bit of sad news – as from today Ben Hopkinson has closed the Sydenham Beer Rebellion. It simply wasn’t achieving the turnover he wanted to motivate him to keep it open.

He has however given us a week to try and raise the necessary capital to re-open the bar and keep the Rebellion alive.

So this is where we are:

We need to find a minimum of £15,000 to take on a new 10 year lease, purchase the assets and set up a formal structure. I have had a number of positive meetings with locals, but as they say, this is where the rubber meets the road.

We are looking for 15-20 people to each put in £1000. They will have equal shares in a new company, with equal voting rights as to how the bar is run. We will meet quarterly (and will no doubt vote a smaller group to be more actively involved), and go through trading figures and discuss operations. If there are dividends at the end of the year they will be shared, and if you need to leave the company we will offer them for sale at market value.

But first and foremost the company exists to protect the magic that is the Rebellion, and our first task is to ensure that that magic continues and that we are able to support the Sydenham Community through arts, performance, events, damn good beer and great fun. When we have our core group we will sit together and write the articles of association and work out how best to move forward at speed.

I currently have 8 people that have confirmed they will participate, and I’m happy to meet with anyone who has questions, or to chat via phone or email.

Drop me an email to matt@coalitionbrewing.co.uk with your contact details and I’ll get straight back in touch with you!

It would be a huge shame to see the Rebellion disappear from the fabric of Sydenham life – as a local I think we would all be much the poorer without it.

So fingers crossed we can make this happen!