ON the decision by officers to recommend Ecotricity’s bid to take over the Sub Rooms in Stroud.

Posted by TonyStroud: My understanding is the decision isn’t being made until early December.

Posted by balancedlearning: The district council has flagrantly ignored its own stated procedure because they want to drive through privatisation as quickly as they can. In this context, good on the town council for speaking up and injecting some much-needed real democracy into this shameful process.

Posted by TonyStroud: So the town council wants to buy the Subs for £599,999 less than the asking price, and then they want another £450,000 from the district council, and there seems to be an unexplained £305,000 in there as well. I don’t know if it is brave or foolhardy to publish these figures, they seem quite mad. This is not an option of which I am in favour.

Iknowmore: I genuinely don’t believe it’s their building to sell as it was built by subscription from the Stroud community. The fairest option would be to allow a community group to try a three year lease and see if they can achieve what the council have failed to do and that is make the building work!

Posted by Forton Bear: The Sub Rooms, as I understand it, was bought by donations made by local businessmen, ie not from ‘community donations’ from the man and woman in the street. If Dale was to buy the Sub Rooms in order to keep it running as a community facility without Stroudies having to stump up any more funding for it via their council taxes, then things seem to have gone full circle.

It’s a good outcome for everyone - a public facility without affecting the public purse.

Posted by Can’t Take Much More: Has the council asked the owners, ie the ‘Stroud community’ to sell their property, I’m sick of the council thinking they are above us. They need to remember they are actually our employees!

Posted by TonyStroud: The public have never owned it. It was built by subscriptions from private businessmen, and has even been owned by the Masons. The council paid for it many years ago. As I understand it the ‘community’ were invited to put bids in to run it, and the council website indicates that several groups looked at it but all bar one has dropped out. The Subs has four to five sell out gigs per year, no one seems to put their money where their mouth is and go there, considering they think they own it.