The keys to The Garibaldi finally belong to Redhill

Shiv Lewis is holding a ring of old keys outside The Garibaldi in Redhill, Surrey, and she looks relieved enough to laugh. The keys belong to a building the community finally owns.

On Aug. 7, 2026, The Garibaldi Community Pub CIC bought the freehold of the Mill Street pub after a two-year fight to keep it. The BBC reported the purchase on the morning of Aug. 26. Lewis, the manager, told the BBC she was "hugely relieved" the group had completed the deal. 12

"It's been really a positive time after a long uphill struggle," she said. "We can continue doing what we love to do at the Garibaldi, and also keep our jobs." 1

I like stories that end with a set of keys. The work behind them usually takes longer than the photograph suggests.

In 2024, the CIC learned the building was heading for auction. The group had been leasing the premises and running the pub as a non-profit. After talks with the owner, the community got first refusal — if it could raise the money. 23

What followed was months of crowdfunders, donations, special events and grant applications. On its own announcement page, the pub lists funders including the Community Infrastructure Levy Strategic and Local funds, Thriving Communities, Power to Change, the National Lottery, Reigate & Redhill Society and several local breweries. 3

A CIC spokesperson told Get Surrey the freehold was "the biggest challenge The Garibaldi has faced in its 160-plus-year history." When the auction news arrived, they said, "there was a very real possibility that everything the community had built here could ultimately be lost." 2

The phrase gets used loosely. At The Garibaldi it is the ownership model.

Nobody holds a private share. Nobody takes the profits home. Staff are paid; surplus goes back into the building, the garden and the community events the pub hosts for little or no cost. Friends of The Garibaldi have run the place on that basis since 2017. 34

Lewis put it simply to the BBC: "The community is the heartbeat of the Garibaldi. Without the people, we wouldn't have put up the fight for the place." 1

Juliet Whitmore, a co-director of the CIC, gets credit across the official account and the BBC piece for keeping the campaign moving. The pub's own write-up calls her the person who "managed to organise our rag-tag army." Lucy Beach led grant applications. Local MP Rebecca Paul raised the campaign in Parliament in May 2025, warning the pub was "at risk" if the freehold could not be secured. 134

Whitmore also told the BBC the name comes from Giuseppe Garibaldi, the 19th-century Italian figure who reportedly spoke near the site while visiting Britain. 1

The freehold does not end the work. The CIC says there is "still plenty of work ahead — and a mortgage to pay." The point of the purchase was security: the next pint can sit a little easier because the room is no longer someone else's asset. 12

Celebration is already on the calendar. The BBC said the pub planned bank-holiday weekend events. The Garibaldi's own site invites people to a picnic on Sunday, Aug. 30, to mark both a birthday and the ownership. This week's listings also include book club, Crafty Pint, quiz night, free magic and live music from Slap Daddy. 15

If you are nearby and want the practical route in, start at the official Garibaldi site. It carries events, beer lists and a contact path for volunteers. The longer account of the buyout sits on the pub's Gari Sold page.

What stays with me is how ordinary the ingredients were. Pints. Grant forms. Local councillors. A manager who kept the doors open while the paperwork ran. Two years later, the keys are in community hands — and the mortgage is the next honest line on the board.