Putting an old pub to good use: Nudge Community Builders

The Clipper used to be a 24 hour pub that was the only place to drink at 5am in Plymouth. It had been empty for four years before Nudge Community builders – set up by locals Wendy Hart and Hannah Sloggett – realised their plans for the building. 

A community share offer saw them raise more than £200,000 with 165 local people investing money to support their work. They received an investment of £100,000 from the Community Shares Booster Programme. 

This enabled them to restore The Clipper and turn it into a community space. Now, you’ll find a vibrant market and pop-up cafe where the pub used to be. And the upstairs space has been turned into two affordable housing flats. 

Wendy and Hannah gave up their jobs in 2017 to set up the organisation for the benefit of the local community. Their mission is to bring buildings back into use to regenerate the local area. 

“We knew that if we didn’t do something we’d be watching someone else doing it, and I was very proud when recently our local GP said that we’d brought hope to a lot of people that things can change,” said Wendy. 

Nudge work in a collaborative way with the local community to avoid gentrification, while creating buildings that are genuinely accessible and of benefit to the community, to help people there to grow and thrive.