In early 2012 the former landlady was struggling to continue running the pub due to ill health, and the pub was under threat of being sold or even closed. As a small pub offering only wet sales in a town with high house prices, there was a strong possibility that it would be run into the ground by a Pub Co and turned into private housing, a pattern all too familiar in recent years.

 

Instead a group of regulars formed a community group and registered the pub as an asset of community value, buying enough time to look into the possibility of buying and running the pub as a co-operative. 70 people attended the first meeting and a steering group was established to register The Fox and Goose (Hebden Bridge) Limited as a community benefit society, raise enough money to buy the pub and undertake some long-needed refurbishments. Experience was drawn upon from the Co-operatives UK, the Plunkett Foundation and The Old Crown in Hesket Newmarket, the UK's first co-operatively-owned pub.

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Bailiffs stripped the pub of its fixtures and fittings in September 2013, yet within two weeks the pub was open again. Regulars brought furniture from home and a pop-up pub was established by the bar staff to prevent its closure. An offer was accepted by the bank in November 2013 and a share offer issued to the community, raising £130,000 from around 259 investors, many of them regulars but others from across the country who were drawn to this unique pub. Investments ranged from £100 to £15,000, but everyone had equal voice and a part ownership in the pub. After contracts were exchanged in March 2014, the pub was closed for a week as people came together to help clean and decorate the pub for its grand opening.