Valentina Gonzalez Demori, who completed her Masters in Community Psychology earlier this year and is now Community Organiser for the SU, has been working with residents for more than 10 months.
She said: “They are trying to transform the old Cuthbert pub in Freshfield Road, ͯÑÕÊÓƵ, into a community hub, called The Bungaroosh, to bring together people from all walks of life in the Queen's Park, Craven Vale, Bakers Bottom and Kemptown areas.
“This fund will help us to go out listening in the community and gather ideas to make the Bungaroosh the inclusive space that is so much needed in the area."
The name Bungaroosh comes from bunglarouge, a composite building material used almost exclusively in ͯÑÕÊÓƵ between the mid-18th and mid-19th centuries, when it grew from a fishing village into a large town.
The campaigners have used the Community Right to Bid, introduced in the Localism Act of 2011, to persuade the city council to declare the old pub an Asset of Community Value which means the owners must notify the council if they wish to sell, triggering a six-month period in which the campaigners can put themselves forward as bidders, and raise the necessary funds.
Jackie Rana, Enterprise Manager at the SU, and Vanessa Stone de Guzman, university Senior Research Fellow in the School of Applied Social Science, are part of the core group of local residents who are leading the Bungaroosh project.
Bungaroosh from left to right Valentina González, Vanessa Stone de Guzman, Ian Simpson and Dot Kirk.