Cornwall fundraising appeal to save Cadgwith Cove fishing lofts

The old buildings are at Cadgwith Cove, used by the fishermen landing at the harbour to store their gear and process their catch. They also house a popular art gallery and two shops selling fresh fish, while in the summer the hugely popular fish barbecues are held outside them.

However, all three are owned by different people and came up for sale around the same time.

One has already been sold, but the community has been offered first refusal on it, while the other two remain on the market, and now the village hopes to buy all three – but it needs help.

The Cadgwith Fishing Cove Trust has formed and now a crowdfunding appeal has now been set up at www.crowdfunder.co.uk/cadgwith-fishing-cove-trust to raise a chunk of funds towards the £300,000 still needed.

Brett Jose, one of the organisers of the appeal, said: "We have managed to secure a loan from the parish council after a vote in the parish was over 80% in favour of it, to secure one of the buildings.

"We cannot afford the other two with the price of £300,000.

Two of the three buildings for sale

"We are trying to buy all three buildings to keep them safe from the ever-present threat of development, which here would mean conversion into yet more second homes and holiday lets.

"Cadgwith is visited each year by thousands of holidaymakers. If our fishing activity ever came to an end, the tourism industry would shrink and many local residents would lose their main source of income.

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"The fishermen are at the heart of our strong sense of community and we are doing whatever we can to support them."

The hope is that Ruan Minor Parish Council, which covers Cadgwith, will take the freeholds of the buildings and then licence a not-for-profit charitable trust to look after the day-to-day management of them.

Covenants will be put in place requiring the buildings to be used by fishermen for as long as they are so needed. However, there can be no element of subsidising the fishermen, who will pay an economic rent, enough to cover all expenses of maintenance and repairs.

One of the two fishing lofts that are right on the harbour, immediately neighbouring the other attached to the back of a neighbouring house

Brett added: "We are already well into realising the plan. The council is raising a loan to buy one of the buildings and there is widespread support from parishioners even though the loan repayments may cause a small increase in their local council tax.

"For the other two buildings, we have had professional surveys and valuations that tell us we need to find £300,000 to buy and repair them. We're hoping to raise most of that from grants but we will certainly have to do a lot of local fundraising and we are working on plans to launch that this coming summer."

If the dream can be realised then longer term plans include using part of the lofts as a small museum about the cove and its fishing, to educate people about the industry at the heart of its history, with wooden beams already displaying engravings of the pilchards and mullet catches.

If there is enough space the group hopes local crafters may even be able to work and sell from there.

In the meantime, a number of fundraising events are being planned to help raise the necessary funds, with updates to be given on the Cadgwith Fishing Cove Trust Facebook page.