In 2012, the community raised over £180k to buy the Hall from St Luke’s Church through a community share offer.
Over 850 people invested money in TheHallGetInvolved Ltd (THGI), so that we could buy the Hall and secure its future. We now have more than 900 shareholders, the vast majority of whom live locally.
The original investment enabled us to buy the freehold and to make some emergency repairs to make the Hall safe.
We’ve made great strides with our restoration project but still have at least £100k worth of works to do (see our Restoration section for more information on our plans).
The good news is that you can still buy shares. For as little as £50 you can become a shareholder, which makes you a member of our community benefit society, Exeter Street Community Hall Ltd (ESCH). ESCH took over the running of the Hall from THGI in 2019 – same people, same shareholders, same ideals & goals, but with slightly modified rules in order to keep us charitable.
Once you’re a member, you can vote at annual general meetings, have your say on our policies and priorities, and vote for the Society’s Directors. It’s one vote per member so everyone’s vote is equally important.
As a shareholder, you can do as much or little as you wish. You might like to volunteer to help with events, publicity or building maintenance, or even stand for election to be a Director and sit on the management committee. But there’s no obligation!
From 2022 members have an annual opportunity each February to withdraw shares and (depending on demand and the amount of money available) receive some or all of their money back, but in general shares can’t be sold or transferred. Community shares in organisations like ours are a social investment rather than a financial investment.
If you are considering buying shares it’s important that you read our ‘open offer’ share document – there’s a link to this below. The two other documents linked to below provide some context: one is our original share offer document from 2012 and the other gives more information on how community shares work in general.
ESCH Open Share Offer Document
Original THGI Share Offer Document, 2012
Buying Shares by Cheque or Bank Transfer
If you want to pay by cheque or bank transfer, please download and print the application form and send it (with your cheque, if you’re paying in that way) to:
Exeter Street Hall
16-17 Exeter Street
Brighton
BN1 5PG