Award-winning community music co-operative secures finance for venue renovation

Situated in Newcastle upon Tyne, Pink Lane Jazz Co-op was formed in early 2013 by a group of local residents, musicians, poets and others who were inspired by local promoter and venue owner Keith Crombie and the Jazz Cafe he set up and ran for many years until his untimely death in December 2012.

The co-operative soon established themselves as jazz.coop promoting their own gigs, community music workshops, courses and jam sessions leading eventually to purchasing their own music venue The Globe through a successful share offer and loan finance packages from Co-op Loan Fund and Co-operative & Community Finance in 2014.

Since then, the co-operative and venue have received awards for their community music work notably; Small Community Co-op of The Year 2021, Parliamentary Jazz Award for Lockdown Innovation 2021 and Jazz Venue of the Year 2022. Throughout the COVID-19 lockdown the co-operative worked hard to make sure live music continued to be accessible to the public, working in a covid-secure environment to deliver high-quality livestreams for their community and beyond. In 2024 they celebrated their tenth anniversary of becoming community owned with a five-day multi-genre music festival called 10 YEARS A CO-OP.

At the end of March this year the co-operative suffered an unexpected and expensive setback. The floor in the first-floor bar of The Globe started to move during a busy gig. The room was evacuated and closed. A survey concluded that the joists needed to be reinforced, and the room remained closed to the public for three months.

Co-op Loan Fund were delighted to provide additional loan finance to supplement funds from grants and crowdfunding to enable to the repair work required. Joan Parker, a founder member of Pink Lane Jazz Co-op, said: “We are very grateful to Co-op Loan Fund for helping us get over this significant financial hit. The cost of unexpected major works and the related loss of income might have finished us, but we were saved by the understanding and support of Kevin Lloyd Evans our Lending and Relationship manager and the co-op principle of Co-operation between Co-operatives.”

Kevin Lloyd-Evans, Lending and Relationship Manager at Co-op Loan Fund, said: “This is a powerful example of co-operative resilience. The team at Pink Lane Jazz showed real strength and determination in the face of adversity, and we were proud to step in with finance at a critical moment. Their recovery reflects the best of our movement -resourceful, values-led, and committed to making culture accessible.”

Creative arts co-ops are delivering greater equality – both economically and culturally – not just to the co-operative sector, but locally in our communities, nationally and internationally. Together as co-ops we can offer an altogether different way of doing business; delivering for audiences, supporting communities and boosting local economies. Co-op Loan Fund are proud to support the co-operative creative arts and culture sector.

Visit jazz.coop to find out more about Pink Lane Jazz and theglobenewcastle.bar for details of venue listings, gigs, club nights, workshops and jam sessions.