Community Share Offer
Own a share in its future.
We’re raising £500,000 to help secure a 125-year lease, establish a sustainable organisation and give Ashton Court Mansion a new lease of life.
We’ve got the plan. Now we need people across Bristol and beyond to help make it happen.
Community shares put your capital at risk. You could lose some or all of your investment. Please read the full Share Offer Document before investing.
Community Shares Explained
So, what are community shares?
Community shares are a different way of financially supporting something you care about.
Instead of making a donation, you invest in an organisation working for the benefit of its community. In return, you become a member, with a say in how it’s run.
It’s not about making a financial return. It’s about what we can make happen together.
The Opportunity
A once-in-a-generation opportunity.
For most of its 600-year history, Ashton Court Mansion was a private home for a wealthy few. Its next chapter could look very different.
We’re working with Bristol City Council to secure a 125-year lease. That would give Ashton Court Mansion Trust the long-term responsibility to care for the building, bring more of it back into use and create a place people can enjoy and help shape.
The Council is due to consider the proposal on 16 November 2026. A positive decision would be a major step, but it wouldn’t mean the lease had been signed.
We also need enough capital to take on the Mansion and run it sustainably. The lease and the funding go hand in hand.
Our Approach to Regeneration
Conserve. Reimagine. Bring it to life.
- Community benefit
- Conservation
- Commercial activity
Around three quarters of Ashton Court Mansion is currently derelict. We’re not trying to recreate the building as it looked at one particular moment in history.
We want to conserve what makes it extraordinary, repair it properly and find new uses that make sense for today. That means protecting its historic fabric while making rooms useful, welcoming and financially sustainable.
We’ll work in phases, beginning with spaces that can be brought into use, and taking on more substantial conservation projects as the plans and funding come together.
Community benefit is the purpose. Conservation must be done properly. Commercial activity helps pay for a future in which more people can use the Mansion.
The Mansion Today
Extraordinary spaces. In urgent need of care.
Behind the doors of this Grade I listed building are remarkable rooms that have been unused for decades. Some need substantial conservation before they can welcome people back.
The photographs below show the scale of the challenge. They also show why it matters that we act.
Our Plans for the Mansion
Not a museum. A Mansion with a future.
Our intended approach is to regenerate Ashton Court Mansion’s derelict spaces based on the future benefit they can provide for the community, not their historic uses. For example, the Long Gallery will become a flexible space for exhibitions, events and community activity. Former servants’ quarters will provide affordable studios for artists and makers. De Lyons Hall will become a place to explore Ashton Court’s history, with learning spaces alongside it.
Across the building, we want to make room for food, skills, heritage, culture, arts, wellbeing and nature. Somewhere to make something, learn something, see an exhibition or celebrate something.
These plans will take time. Our Business Plan sets out an indicative first five-year regeneration programme of around £12 million, with wider works expected to continue over many years. Each project will depend on securing the funding and permissions it needs.
What Your Investment Makes Possible
£500,000 to lay the foundations.
This share offer is about making the regeneration possible. It isn’t paying for the major building works themselves.
Your investment will provide the start-up capital needed to take on and operate the Mansion, build our team, develop community activity, grow our audiences and commercial income, and establish the fundraising capacity to secure the much larger grants and donations needed for the building.
Build the organisation.
We’ll develop the people, partnerships, systems and fundraising capability needed to run the Mansion and deliver the plan.
Get the Mansion working.
We’ll grow the programme of events, learning and community activities, while building the audiences and commercial income that help sustain them.
Make regeneration possible.
We’ll build the capacity to develop projects and pursue the major capital funding required to conserve and bring more of the building into use.
The aim is to use start-up capital to create an organisation that can increasingly support itself — not to rely on community share capital indefinitely.
A Mansion That Earns Its Keep
Some things make money. Some cost money. Together, they make the Mansion work.
A building this extraordinary needs more than a one-off fundraising campaign. It needs a business model that works.
Weddings, celebrations, filming, private hire and workspaces will help generate income. Alongside them, we’ll grow tours, learning, exhibitions, creative projects and community programmes.
Commercial activity will help sustain the building and support the Trust’s charitable work. Our Business Plan forecasts a period of investment while the organisation grows, with the aim of reaching operational break-even by the end of Year 3. That is a forecast, not a guarantee.
The aim isn’t simply to bring the Mansion back into use. It’s to make sure it can stay that way.
How Community Shares Work
A different kind of investment.
When you buy community shares, you become a member of Ashton Court Mansion Trust, the charitable Community Benefit Society working to take on the Mansion under a long-term lease.
You won’t own a piece of the building. Bristol City Council will retain the freehold, and the Trust is seeking the lease. Community shares are also different from ordinary company shares: they cannot be sold or traded.
- One member. One vote. However much you invest, you have an equal say in how the Society is governed.
- The minimum investment is £100. The Trust does not anticipate paying interest to individual investors for the foreseeable future, or allowing withdrawals for at least 20 years. Shares cannot increase in value.
- Your capital is at risk. You could lose some or all of the money you invest. This is primarily an opportunity to support the Mansion’s future, not an investment from which to expect a financial return.
Questions?
Community shares FAQs.
What are community shares?
They are shares in Ashton Court Mansion Trust, a charitable Community Benefit Society. Buying them makes you a member of the Society and gives you a vote in how it is run. You do not buy a piece of the building.
Why are you raising £500,000?
To give the Trust the start-up capital needed to operate the Mansion, build community activities, develop commercial income and pursue the major grants and donations needed for regeneration. The £500,000 does not directly fund the main building works.
What happens if the Council doesn’t agree the lease?
A Council decision and a signed lease are different things. The Trust will not draw down share offer funds before the lease is signed. If negotiations ultimately collapse with no prospect of signing, investments will be refunded under the terms of the offer.
Will I receive interest?
The Trust does not anticipate paying interest to individual investors for the foreseeable future. Surpluses are intended to support the Mansion and the Trust’s charitable activities.
Can I withdraw my shares?
Withdrawals are not anticipated for at least 20 years. Even then, any withdrawal would be subject to the Society’s rules, its financial position and the Board’s decisions. You should not invest money you may need back.
What is the minimum investment?
The minimum investment is £100. You can invest more if you wish, provided it is an amount you can afford to lose and within the limits set out in the offer.
Can I lose my investment?
Yes. Community shares are fully at risk. You could lose some or all of your investment. Read the full Share Offer Document before deciding.
Where can I read the full details?
The Share Offer Document, Business Plan and Society Rules are available to download below. Please read them before investing.
Important Documents
Read the full details.
Before investing, please read the Share Offer Document, Business Plan and Society Rules. They explain the terms, financial forecasts, governance and risks in full.
The Next Chapter
The Mansion has plenty of history. Now let’s make some more.
A new chapter for Ashton Court Mansion is within reach. Help us raise £500,000 and build the organisation that can make it happen.
Community shares are at risk. Please read the full offer before investing.