A unique music co-operative is developing new ways to bring musicians and audiences together while the venue it owns remains closed. The Globe in Newcastle upon Tyne was bought by Jazz.Coop in 2014 with investment from a community share issue and loans from Co-op Loan Fund and Co-operative & Community Finance. It is thought to […]
Co-op Loan Fund has lent a cumulative total of £5m in nearly 200 loans since it started in 2002. This landmark figure was reached with a loan to PrimePac Solutions, an employee-owned business in south Wales that has increased production to meet a huge increase in demand for sanitising and cleaning products. Co-op Loan Fund […]
Significant building work to improve the facilities of a community-owned pub in rural Staffordshire is well underway, with support from Co-op Loan Fund, Co-operative & Community Finance, the Reach Fund and local grant providers. The Royal Oak in Rushton Spencer, near Leek, which had closed after a period of neglect, was bought and re-opened by […]
The fortunes of Dunbar Community Bakery have gone up and down and up again since it started trading in 2011. Dunbar is a small coastal town about 40 miles east of Edinburgh with a population of 8,500. Local people decided to set up the community bakery after the local 150-year-old high street bakery closed. They […]
Six years ago, Co-op Loan Fund, working with other organisations, helped the people of Denton West End in Greater Manchester to save their library by buying it from the local authority. We asked Ian Wilson, Chairman of Denton West End Community Library, what difference six years of community-ownership had made. “The main difference is that […]
Work has started on the development of a 15-acre site on the edge of Sheffield as a community-owned market garden to supply the city with organic fruit and vegetables. Co-op Loan Fund has provided the multi-faceted Regather Co-operative with loan finance to expand its food production operation. Regather Co-operative provides a range of inter-related services […]
A co-operative that brings together freelances, small businesses and community organisations is about to transform a five-floor building in the independent fringe of the centre of Bradford. The building at 14 North Parade, which has been empty for over a year, will include studio, office and meeting space for co-working, and a café with commercial […]
An Essex farm that is one of the leading practitioners of biodynamic farming and conservation has secured its long-term future by becoming a charitable community benefit society. The new community-owned venture is being helped by a loan from the Co-operative Loan Fund as part of the Just Growth programme. Lauriston Farm is located on the […]
A community benefit society that saved the pub in an Essex village last year has bought a second property that it will convert into a restaurant and affordable rented accommodation. On 19 September Great Oakley Community Hub Ltd completed the purchase of the property known as the Red House which stands next to the Maybush […]
A village pub in Derbyshire has re-opened after two years of closure, with new facilities and new owners – the local community. The Spotted Cow is now owned by a community benefit society with 225 members from the village of Holbrook and the surrounding area. They raised over £170,000 to finance the purchase, and The […]