'We plan to keep the same feel of The Rectory, offering high quality food and drink' says community interest company after securing £300,000 to reopen Chesterfield pub
A pub in Chesterfield town centre – which has been closed for nearly two years – is poised for a new lease of life after a community group secured £300,000 in Government funding to reopen it.
Social enterprise Kakou is proposing to buy the freehold of The Rectory pub on Church Way.
A statement from the community interest company, which is based at the Northern Gateway Enterprise Centre, said: “We plan to keep the same feel of The Rectory, offering high quality food and drink, as we know it was a much-loved part of Chesterfield town centre.
“However with access to the first floor we will be offering space for the local community to use as well as providing a home for Kakou's STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and maths) activities.”
Chesterfield MP Toby Perkins posted: “Glad to hear that Government’s Community ownership fund has supported an application to reopen the Rectory as pub’/community space.”
Kakou announced its intention to bid for the freehold of The Rectory earlier this year and asked for the community’s views via a survey on social media. Chesterfield CAMRA posted: “Be great to see The Rectory back open (or a new pub/community asset hybrid in the premises).”
The Rectory closed in April 2023, owing creditors £180,000 – with the pub’s liquidators saying the closure was due to a downturn in business and increases in rent costs.