A worker co-operative has secured a loan from Co-op Loan Fund as they continue their multi-layered approach to strategic economic development powered by democratic ownership. Stir to Action was founded as an online publisher in 2012 platforming new ideas and debate around economic alternatives. Over the past decade it has developed into a national infrastructure […]
A worker co-op accountancy firm are putting principles into practice with accounting services rooted in co-operative values and sociocratic working models. Working primarily within the co-operative and not-for-profit sector Third Sector Accountancy are a workers’ co-op based in Manchester but with staff located across the country and Germany. A co-operative of 20 members and close […]
A co-operative craft brewery has expanded its retail operation by opening a new taproom creating jobs and positive impact for the local community. Since its inception in 2015, production at Belfast-based Boundary Brewing Co-operative has increased rapidly as demand for its high quality craft beers has boomed. Over the years the brewery has expanded its premises, […]
A community owned bakery announces exciting new plans to buyout premises, provide apprenticeships and purchase new equipment. Located about 30 miles east of Edinburgh, Dunbar Bakery has been serving the community of Dunbar for over 150 years and as a co-operative with a membership of 1,300 since 2011. Wholly owned by its shareholders who mostly […]
A collective of hospitality and events workers in Plymouth have taken on the premises of a previously dormant college brewery to launch Borrowed Parts Brew Co. Operating out of a former teaching and commercial brewery installed by City College Plymouth in the year 2000, the group have revived and retrofitted the facility which has been […]
This year Co-op Fortnight, the annual UK celebration of co-operation, is a time for reflection. What can we learn from the way co-ops and communities have responded to the pandemic? How can we ensure we build something better for the future? Co-op Loan Fund brings together the UK’s biggest and smallest co-op businesses in a […]
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 […]
At a time when many businesses have temporarily closed, an employee-owned company in south Wales has increased production to cope with a big rise in demand for its packaging services. In recent weeks PrimePac Solutions Ltd in Ebbw Vale has been inundated with orders to package sanitising and cleaning products. It has also bought a […]
Three years after the employees bought the business, there is plenty of work at one of the last traditional foundries in Scotland. Co-op Loan Fund is helping it adapt to the challenges of growth. Specialised Castings in Denny, near Falkirk, is one of just two iron foundries left in central Scotland, which was once the […]
The UK’s leading supplier of personalised school uniform, which is employee-owned, is investing in new IT and preparing for growth with the help of loans from the Co-operative Loan Fund and Co-operative & Community Finance. Sheffield-based School Trends supplies 6,000 schools and well over 1 million school children throughout the UK with personalised school uniforms. […]