Financing Community Ownership

Members have received a huge boost by securing a financial package that enables ambitious and enterprising plans to renovate, develop and grow their sports and social club for the benefit of the local community.

Based in the heart of the picturesque Victorian spa town of Leamington Spa, Oak House Sports and Social Club has a long proud history of serving its community with origins dating back as far as the mid 1880’s. Originally founded as a social club by the local council, ‘The Liberal Club’ as it was then known eventually moved from the Town Hall to its current location in Upper Holly Walk between 1937 and 1945. The impressive Grade II listed building built by the locally renowned architect William Thomas eventually changed its name to ‘Oak House Sports and Social Club’ registering as a Co-operative & Community Benefit Society in 2015.

Securing loans from both Co-operative & Community Finance and Co-op Loan Fund has meant the club’s committee can refinance existing loans as well as put in place their ambitious plans for development and growth in the club, with a view to broadening its membership and providing more services and facilities for the local community.

Plans include renovation and building improvements for new kitchen facilities, development of the club’s large beer garden, as well as general improvement of amenities that will enable increased use of the existing function room for events and room hire including weddings, parties and children’s activities. Along with these facilities and the club’s main lounge bar and two games rooms (including darts, snooker and TV screens), the club hope to generate both new rental and bar income.

David Jenkins, Treasurer and representative of the Oak House Committee said: “The committee and membership of the Oak House warmly welcome the support from Co-operative and Community Finance and Co-op Loan Fund. The future looks bright thanks to the subsequent restructuring of our finances. We now have headroom and the confidence to push forward with our growth.”

The committee also intend to engage a local marketing and advertising company to promote the club and its services to new audiences and ensure more engagement from the local community and wider Leamington Spa area. Oak House are also keen to develop new services such as hotdesking, internet access and increased food and drink sales.

Kevin Lloyd-Evans, Lending and Relationship Manager at Co-operative & Community Finance said: “We were delighted to support Oak House. The committee is determined to create a success with the club. There is a clear vision and plan in place. Getting the finance in place was the first part of the jigsaw.”

For more information about Oak House Sports and Social Club you can visit their website.

Residents of Kingsley Holt have come together to save and repurpose their local chapel as a thriving community centre providing an essential meeting space, shop and café for the area.

 Situated in the Staffordshire Moorlands just a few miles away from Cheadle, the village of Kingsley Holt has had to rely on its neighboring market town for local amenities in recent years after closure of the village’s last shop.

As well as a place of worship, Kingsley Holt Chapel has been an important community meeting space hosting all kinds of events, carnivals, Christmas fairs and carol services since its opening in 1937. Originally managed by the Methodist Church, the Chapel was closed for regular worship in June 2019 due to a dwindling congregation. Church trustees wanted to find a “new energy and vision” for the building and approached residents to help find alternative uses for the Chapel and retain it as a community asset. In response to this the local community had rallied together around the village’s 85 year old chapel to protect and retain it as a thriving community space.

From then on, the community came together to help manage the centre activities and hire the venue out for events and meetings. After being informed in May 2021 by Methodist Trustees that the Chapel was to be sold, locals decided that the building was far too important and valuable to the village to let go and applied to the local council to register and protect it as an Asset of Community Value (ACV), listing was granted on the 9^th Aug 2021. Soon after Kingsley Holt Centre Limited was registered as a Community Benefit Society and locals began to plan the purchase of the building.

Securing loans from Co-operative & Community Finance and Co-op Loan Fund (managed by CCF) along with a community share offer with investment from over 120 members; the committee has been able to purchase the building completing on the 5^th September 2022 and are now busy putting in place exciting plans to change the internal layout creating a new meeting space to increase capacity and convert an existing domestic kitchen into a new shop and café area.

Martin Wheeler, Chair of Kingsley Holt Centre Limited said: “When we first started on this project, we had to do an amazing amount of research. We visited other groups for advice and on one of these visits CCF was recommended to us. From the very first contact it was evident that this was an invaluable recommendation. Kevin worked very closely with us on this project from first contact providing advice, information access to funding in addition to loans. We are very excited about this project and it’s very reassuring to know we will have the expertise of CCF working alongside us going forward.”

Kevin Lloyd-Evans, Lending and Relationship Manager at Co-operative & Community Finance said: “Kingsly Holt is a great story of a community overcoming significant challenges to secure a community asset. Martin and the group have been amazing, and really battled through to make this happen. This really does give hope to community groups looking to secure community assets.”

You can keep up to date with Kingsley Holt Centre by visiting their website.

Harrogate residents have put in place enterprising and inspiring plans to develop their traditional working men’s club into a diverse and inclusive community asset bringing local people together.

 A five-minute walk from Harrogate town centre, High Harrogate Working Men’s Club has been a regular haunt for locals since 1889. A member of the CIU and registered as a Co-operative Society since 2019, the club has been a focal point for the community evolving from having a singular role of providing an affordable social space to being an asset for the benefit of the community.

Securing a loan from Co-operative & Community Finance has meant the club can proceed with its ambitious plans to fully restore and renovate the space on the ground floor and the exterior of the building’s frontage. Working with a local developer the club will convert and extend the first and second floors into accommodation to form 6 new apartments.

Currently undergoing the process of migrating into a Community Benefit Society (CBS) to better represent the broader offers the business provides to the local community, the club intends rejuvenate facilities for the use of local clubs such as Judo, Pilates, Meditation and other indoor sporting activities. The modernised function room will also enable bookings for events, parties and live music creating revenue for the club as well as providing an accessible hub for the community.

Creating a new website and utilising social media pages to create a strong online presence, the newly named ‘High Harrogate Bar and Lounge’ will display the business’s revamped facilities, events and social role within the community not only to attract new customers but to further embed the club into the heart of the community.

Plans for the renovation are proving popular with locals and at the last AGM around 80 members attended unanimously expressing their support for the proposals. Kevin Lloyd-Evans, Lending and Relationship Manager at Co-operative & Community Finance said: “We are delighted to be lending again to a Working Men’s Club. Being able to respond to access to finance challenges is paramount to our work. We support membership organisations which are democratically controlled and collectively owned. This is a brilliant start as we now look to support other Working Men’s Clubs across the country.”