A BID submitted by two local families for the Tavistock Wharf has been accepted by the directors ? although no names will be revealed until the purchase is completed. Managing director Margaret Hurdwell said they were all delighted with the result. ?It has been bought by reasonably local people ? not a large conglomerate. They are fantastic people and will keep running the Wharf as we have.? Mrs Hurdwell said it had been ?very hard to choose? because there were lots of good bids. ?But we all came to the conclusion that the people we picked were like-minded people. We couldn?t have asked for better. They have fantastic connections and experience.? She said their enthusiasm from the first time they came was ?amazing?. ?To run a place like this you have to have sheer enthusiasm because that?s where the vibrancy comes from.? Mrs Hurdwell said the new owners want to continue the Wharf with the arts and entertainment it offers. She said they would have a much better start than her company did when it took over 11 years ago. ?They haven?t got the debts. The Wharf now has a huge customer base. Also, they don?t have to programme it because we have programmed it until 2007. We wanted to sell an ongoing successful business.? She said there would always be people who were not happy. But the Wharf had tried, in the last eleven years, to build a thriving venue, bringing professional and amateur performances with as much variety as possible with the financial restraints that existed. ?But as they say: ??You can?t please all of the people all of the time?? so there will always be people that are unhappy.? Mrs Hurdwell, who said selling was never anything to do with the largest amount of money on offer, recognised the new owners would have to increase the income because the Wharf does not get revenue funding. ?There will not be any revenue funding from either town or district councils in the near future so it was essential to secure management with a strong business background while keeping the original ideals of the Wharf Arts and Entertainments Centre. ?Until revenue funding is forthcoming, the Wharf can never truly be a community arts centre because the cost of being all-inclusive is too high to bear,? she said. ? I?m sure the people of Tavistock will like the future management.? Mrs Hurdwell said the names would be released in a press statement from the new management on completion. ?Now here?s to another eleven years of success. It is the customers who make or break the Wharf,? she added.
