The Create Streets Foundation is launching ‘No Place Left Behind’, the Commission into Prosperity and Community Placemaking. This focuses on under-valued areas and takes as its mantra that no place should be left behind and aims to generate new ideas to help “level up” England as part of the country’s recovery from the COVID-19 crisis.
They want to hear from people who live or work in ‘left behind’ places by the 2nd November
Members!
If you want to see what happened at our AGM’s we have uploaded highlights to our YouTube channel.
We’re not expecting this our meeting to challenge pop videos for the ‘most viewed’ crown but in the interests of transparency, we are happy to share the proceedings.
Watch Part One for an introduction and the presentation of accounts and Part Two the formal business of the AGM’s here on YouTube.
Please be aware the recordings are for three AGM’s held consecutively via Zoom on Monday 29th June 2020 for: Industrial Common Ownership Ltd (ICOF), Industrial Common Ownership Fund PLC (ICOF plc) and ICOF Community Capital Ltd (ICC). Co-operative & Community Finance is the trading name of the ICOF family of businesses.
[photo: Directors of Loxley Community Benefit Society celebrate the purchase with a socially distanced drink]
The small village of Loxley near Stratford-upon-Avon is the latest to save its only pub from permanent closure.
Local residents acted quickly when the Fox was unexpectedly put up for sale in April 2019. They formed an action group, conducted a community survey and held consultation events in Loxley and neighbouring villages, to generate and gauge support for community ownership of the pub. They set up a community benefit society and made an offer to buy the Fox which was accepted in October 2019. They then set about raising the investment needed.
The group received support from the More Than A Pub programme, which provides free advice and webinars, bursaries, grants and loans to communities seeking to buy their local, as well as those who are already trading. The programme is funded by Power to Change and is delivered by Plunkett Foundation working in partnership with Co-operative & Community Finance and the Key Fund.
The community share issue exceeded its target of £250k and raised a total of £271,150 from 214 investors who were almost entirely local residents. Interestingly, another community pub in Warwickshire, the New Inn at Norton Lindsey, invested the £250 prize money it had received from the Plunkett Community Business Awards.
Together with the grant and loan from More Than A Pub, the community had the finance it needed to buy the Fox. However the purchase was greatly delayed by the coronavirus pandemic and was not completed until 1 September 2020.
Paul Jennings, Chair of Loxley Community Benefit Society, said: “The Fox is a traditional pub in a small rural village that has no shop or village hall. It is the centre of the community – the only public space for people to meet and interact. If the community had not come together and bought it, the site would probably have been sold to a housing developer.”
The villagers will have to wait till spring before they can savour the hospitality of their new purchase. Repairs and refurbishment are needed to the roof, bar area and the upstairs accommodation. A manager needs to be recruited.
The Fox has a beer garden, car park and paddock and this outside space will be particularly useful in allowing the pub to operate as safely as possible while the threat of virus infection remains high. In the longer term there are plans to create a community orchard and vegetable garden in the paddock.
Asked why he believed the Fox would flourish under community ownership when previous tenants had struggled, Paul explained: “We don’t have to pay rent and we can choose our suppliers. This helps our cost base. Also we are not under pressure to make quick or high profits. Our aim is sustainability. We are providing and maintaining a community asset for the long term.”
Tim Coomer, Business Development Manager of Co-operative & Community Finance, said: “We are really pleased to have been able to support Loxley CBS to secure the Fox. I visited the group back in February 2020 just before the COVID-19 situation unfolded and put the project’s future into jeopardy. Seven months on it’s fantastic that their determination and commitment to secure the Fox into community ownership never wavered and the community now proudly have their pub back; even if they will have to wait awhile for their first pint!”
The shop and the pub in a small village in Somerset have a secure future thanks to the efforts of the residents and support from a programme to support community ownership.
Until recently Stoke St Gregory, near Taunton, had two pubs and an independent shop. In late 2017 the parish council learned that both pubs were under threat of closure and that the future of the shop was similarly uncertain. After extensive community consultation the parish council developed a long-term plan to bring the larger and more central of the two pubs into community ownership and to use it to accommodate the shop and a cafe as well as the traditional pub. They got the Royal Oak registered as a Asset of Community Value and set up a community benefit society to raise investment and buy the building.
The group received support from the More Than A Pub programme, which provides free advice and webinars, bursaries, grants and loans to communities seeking to buy their local, as well as those who are already trading. The programme is funded by Power to Change and is delivered by Plunkett Foundation working in partnership with Co-operative & Community Finance and the Key Fund.
The community share issue raised £206,000 from 254 investors who were almost entirely local residents. Together with the grant and loan from More Than A Pub, the community was able to buy the Royal Oak, and the purchase was completed on 26 August 2020.
The pub has been closed since lockdown started in March but the business of the village shop, which the society had previously purchased, has been very busy. The shop has been running from a converted shipping container located beside the village hall and moving it into larger premises within the Royal Oak is a very high priority.
Graham Gleed, chair of the Heart of the Village society, said: “The community shop has been a lifeline during the coronavirus pandemic and sales have much higher than normal. We really need more space to satisfy the needs of the community.”
After some essential renovation and repair to the building, the shop and café will open for business from the Royal Oak in September, and the pub itself is expected to reopen in October.
Tim Coomer, Business Development Manager of Co-operative & Community Finance, said: “We are delighted to be able to support HOTV, by combining the shop and the pub in one central location they are creating a true community hub that will become the beating heart of the village.”
Communities across England are being urged to consider owning, leasing and running pubs which are under the threat of closure after the Covid-19 lockdown – and the More Than A Pub support programme is being relaunched to help.
More Than a Pub is designed to support communities to save their local pubs by taking them into community control. The programme is being relaunched by national charity the Plunkett Foundation, which says it could not have come at a more critical time as pubs face the challenge of attracting customers back after months of limited activity or closure.
The programme provides funding and support to urban and rural community groups who need help to develop their ideas and plans, which includes business development advice and a combined finance package of up to £100,000 made up of loans and grants. It is funded by Power to Change, the independent trust that supports community businesses in England, and the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG).
Tim Coomer, Co-op & Community Finance’s Business Development Manager said
“We are delighted the More Than a Pub Programme has been relaunched, as one of two loan provider partners to the programme we are keen to get the community pub sector moving again. And we’re keen to provide finance to a new wave of communities willing to step in, during the most exceptional time in our generation, to secure their pub into community ownership for future generations to enjoy.”
James Alcock, Plunkett’s chief executive, said:
“This is an absolutely critical moment for both rural and urban pubs, the lockdown forced many across the country to keep their doors closed for months. People are now fearful that their local pubs may never reopen, and community ownership can be the answer to that. We have seen so many successful stories of closed pubs being brought back to life under community ownership. Anybody who needs help, guidance and support to save their local pub should get in touch with the More Than a Pub programme today. The closure of your beloved local doesn’t have to be inevitable – this is your chance to save it.”
There are now more than £10 million in shares held by community pub members across England supported by More Than a Pub. The programme was paused during the Covid-19 lockdown in order to provide urgent help for trading pubs to adjust their activities. During this period More Than a Pub provided grants to around half the community pubs in England.
Emma McClarkin, Chief Executive of the British Beer & Pub Association, said:
“This pandemic has taught us the importance of community and that our local pubs are more valued in bringing us together than ever before. In what is such a difficult time for local pubs, the More Than a Pub programme provides vital funding and support for communities looking to take ownership of a pub that may otherwise be at risk of closing for good.”
Sales at pubs, restaurants and hotels across the UK plunged by £30bn during lockdown, according to the UK Hospitality Tracker, collated by CGA. This risk of closures has resulted in a number of interested community groups already getting in touch with Plunkett to help them save their local pubs. One such group is fighting to save one of Hull’s most popular music venues The Polar Bear where a crowd funding campaign has already started to raise funds to keep it alive after the 200 capacity venue closed during lockdown. And in rural Oxfordshire residents have kicked off a plan to save their much loved village pub The White Horse, Stonesfield, which closed at the beginning of
national lockdown in March and didn’t reopen when restrictions were eased.
Plunkett helps rural communities tackle challenges such as social isolation, employment and poverty by supporting enterprises – including pubs, shops, bakeries, farms and woodlands – that are owned and run democratically by members of the community.
Tom Barton, Programme Manager at Power to Change, added:
“Covid-19 has left many communities with more challenges than they have faced for a generation. Community pubs have often become the focal point around which people have regrouped and worked out how to support each other. This ‘more than’ feature of community business and ownership is one that new groups can once again explore and develop, now that the programme has been relaunched.”
The impact of lockdown
During lockdown two thirds of community pubs surveyed in England carried on trading, according to Plunkett figures. Community pubs diversified offering a variety of services such as shops, home deliveries, takeaways and even wellbeing support lines.
There are now 116 community owned and run pubs trading across the UK and 105 in England, with over half of them continuing to operate in some way despite the forced closure of cafes, pubs and restaurants – with the exception of takeaway services – from March to July. The charity says that many have been laying on extra services specifically designed to help people in their locality receive the supplies they needed during the lockdown.
Find out more and apply to More Than A Pub today
[photo by Max Reeves]
The oldest senior football ground in London has been bought by the local supporter-owned club and is set to become a permanent asset to the community of Forest Gate in East London.
Clapton Community Football Club completed the purchase of the historic Old Spotted Dog Ground on 24 July 2020, following a long campaign by the fans to regain their home. Clapton Community FC was established in June 2018 as a fan-owned and fan-operated community club, by the life members and supporters of Clapton FC. It now has over 1,300 members worldwide.
The Old Spotted Dog has been the spiritual home of Clapton supporters for over 130 years… but for the first time ever, they now own it. The previous owners, Star Pubs & Bars, had been looking for new tenants since last summer, when it terminated the lease held by Newham Community Leisure Ltd due to non-payment of rent. Confusingly, the previous tenant continues to field a team, called Clapton FC, most recently based in Southend-on-Sea.
The ground has been very neglected in recent years and requires significant work, which will be kick-started with a loan from Co-operative & Community Finance. When the work is complete, the restored ground and clubhouse will be available for use by local schools and community groups.
Kevin Blowe, treasurer of Clapton Community FC, said: “For the first time ever, the oldest senior football ground in London is owned by a football club, and a member-run, non-profit, community-focused football club at that. Bringing Clapton’s spiritual home back into community use, after a season of boycotts of Clapton FC home games when it was placed into liquidation by the previous tenant, was absolutely central to the motivation for setting up Clapton Community FC back in the summer of 2018. Finally having a ground of our own, owned by members, will offer long term stability for the club and also the chance to build lasting links with the local community.”
The campaign to make the Old Spotted Dog a community asset once more has been backed by West Ham MP, Lyn Brown, Mayor of Newham, Roksana Fiaz and local councillors.
Kevin continued: “We also received continuous support from the Football Supporters Association, both in terms of buying the ground as well as many other aspects of creating and running a fan-owned football club. We are incredibly grateful for everything they have done for Clapton Community FC.”
The fan-owned club has succeeded because it is passionate about equality, democracy and fairness. It encourages people of all backgrounds and abilities to get involved. The club is passionately anti-fascist, anti-sexist and anti-racist. Clapton’s away kit is inspired by the colours of the International Brigades and the Spanish Republican flag, those who fought against fascism in Spain during the civil war in the 1930s. It features the slogan ‘no pasáran’ (they shall not pass) which was used by Republican troops at the time. Photos of the kit went viral following one of their first ever games and the club sold 11,500 away shirts, including 5,500 to Spain, in its first season, instead of the 250 they were expecting.
Ian Rothwell, Investment Manager of Co-operative & Community Finance, said: “This is a fan-owned club where the politics of the club are nearly as important as the football. It has built an extremely engaged and committed membership. This is a real grassroots football club and we are delighted to be supporting it. Members include people from all sorts of different backgrounds and with that come many skills which can be utilised voluntarily. They are itching to start work on improving and developing the ground as a community asset.”
[photo by Ed Nix taken at the start of the campaign in October 2019]
The last remaining pub in the historic village of Bladon, Oxfordshire, has been saved by the local community.
The White House has a strong connection one of Britain’s most famous and controversial leaders. Sir Winston Churchill, who was born in nearby Blenheim Palace, is said to have drunk his first pint there and his final resting place is the graveyard opposite.
The 17th century building was put up for sale in September 2019 and its status as an Asset of Community Value meant that the community had six months to raise the money to put in a bid to buy and manage the future of the pub.
“We were worried that the pub would be sold for development and so formed our own war cabinet to save the White House. We held many events and it was clear that the community was behind the bid,” said Mike Edwards, one of the directors of Bladon Community Benefit Society.
The group received support from the More Than A Pub programme, which provides free advice and webinars, bursaries, grants and loans to communities seeking to buy their local, as well as those who are already trading. The programme is funded by Power to Change and is delivered by Plunkett Foundation working in partnership with Co-operative & Community Finance and the Key Fund.
After six months of relentless campaigning, Bladon Community Benefit Society had over 450 shareholders and had raised more than £330,000 in shares. Although 90% of shareholders come from Bladon and the surrounding villages, press coverage also sent the pub’s cause around the globe and shares were purchased from as far away as Australia. The community shares, together with the grant and loan from More Than A Pub, enabled to the society to make an offer to purchase The White House. The community were handed the keys to their pub on 23 July 2020.
After refurbishment the pub will offer a whole host of services including a café, shop and meeting place for many groups. The search for a tenant is underway and a plan for essential renovations has been drawn up. If all goes well, The White House will reopen in September 2020.
“It was a real community effort and even the global coronavirus pandemic didn’t stand in our way. These unprecedented times have boosted Bladon’s community spirit even further. We can’t wait to raise a socially distanced glass with our fellow shareholders and supporters!” said Rachel Guest, another director of the society.
Ian Rothwell, Investment Manager of Co-operative & Community Finance, said: “This is another example of a successful community pub buyout. Bladon Community Benefit Society has a lot going for it. There is a lot of community support, and there are some very skilled people on the board of directors. Add to that the enormous tourist potential of the Churchill connection, and I think The White House has a secure future that will benefit the local community.”
The group also learned first-hand from the experiences of the Abingdon Arms in Beckley which is 11 miles away and has been community owned since 2016. Rachel Guest said: “They have been really helpful, giving us their advice and experience about everything. There is a strong network of support among community pubs. In fact we have been contacted by people in a village very nearby who would like to buy their local.”
More funding news – The Social Enterprise Support Fund will provide essential financial support between £10,000 and £300,000 to help social enterprises during COVID-19.
The School for Social Entrepreneurs (SSE) and four other social enterprise support agencies have come together to deliver a new fund, and applications opened at 1pm today (Monday 13th July).
Big Issue Invest, The Key Fund, Resonance, UnLtd and SSE will jointly deliver £18.7m in grants, with support from CAF Venturesome, the Young Foundation and Ashoka.
This has been made possible thanks to The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest funder of community activity in the UK.
The Social Enterprise Support Fund is aimed at social enterprises supporting people at high health risk from COVID-19, and those supporting people facing increased social and economic challenges as a result of COVID-19.
The fund responds to an urgent need in the sector to:
SSE CEO Alastair Wilson says: “Many social entrepreneurs are on the frontline of this crisis, supporting people who are most at-risk. Others are working with groups who have been disproportionately hard hit by COVID-19. At the same time, they have seen their income from trading plummet. This funding comes at a critical time.
“Working with our partners, we will do everything we can to ensure this funding reaches social entrepreneurs as quickly as possible, so they can recover lost income and help their communities to recover and rebuild.”
We’re happy to see a £9.5 million Covid-19 Community-Led Organisations Recovery Scheme announced. There will be three short application periods – 10am to 1pm on the 28th July, 4th and 11th August – so we urge you to look into this one early if you plan to apply. There’s also a webinar to help you prepare.
This fund Scheme will be delivered by Power to Change, Locality, The Ubele Initiative and Social Investment Business on behalf of the National Lottery Community Fund. Find out about the Lottery’s other schemes here
What is the Covid-19 Community-Led Organisations Recovery Scheme?
Covid-19 Community-Led Organisations Recovery Scheme offers grants up to £100,000 to community organisations in England who are facing financial difficulties caused by Covid-19. The scheme is aimed at organisations delivering services in their local community to support people who are at high risk from Covid-19, with an emphasis on Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME)-led or BAME-supporting businesses.
Is it open for applications?
The recovery scheme will open on Tuesday 28 July for applications from 10am till 1pm. And then for a further two rounds on Tuesday 4 August from 10am till 1pm and Tuesday 11 August from 10am till 1pm.
Who can apply?
Community organisations in England who are facing financial difficulties caused by Covid-19. For more information about whether your community organisation will be eligible, please read the guidance notes.
What can you apply for?
Up to £100,000 grant and business support to:
Where can I find out more?
You can find out more by reading the guidance notes and our Frequently Asked Questions.
Join us for a free webinar on Thursday 23 July from 3.30-5pm where you will be able to find out more about the fund and application process and take part in a live Q&A.
Do you have questions about your application?
If you have any questions about your application you can get in touch with our delivery partner Social Investment Business: cclors@sibgroup.org.uk
With lockdown starting to loosen, and businesses tiptoeing towards trading more, Business Development Manager Tim Coomer has taken a w wide-ranging view and looked back over a whirlwind three months – what have we done through lockdown, and what do we plan to do next?
Firstly, I think we need to say we have been lucky compared with many others! As an organisation we are small and agile so have been able to cope quite well – two members of the co-op already worked from home so the only real change was the lack of getting out and about, as we do cover the whole of the UK including Northern Ireland (occasionally!). There have been some extra work/life/home balance challenges – kids at home for Tim, occasional cat on Zoom calls for Ian, and some initial glitches setting up computer software for the Bristol Office based duo, Anne and Alain but we have adapted pretty well to the lockdown and working totally from home.
The first few months of lockdown saw us protecting and supporting our existing borrowers, working closely with them to help them through those early, frightening days. It was all so unknown then. We approved Capital payment holidays for over 50% of our portfolio including the Co-op Loan Fund portfolio we manage. At that time we felt it important to be in close contact with all our borrowers and we continue to do so.
Through our website, social media and newsletter, we also provided updates on the range of schemes and opportunities that have come along throughout the crisis from a range of government sources, grant providers and partners. The Co-op & Community Finance Group of companies and Co-op Loan fund lend to around 80 Co-ops of all shapes and sizes and we have in the region of £3 million out on loan at any one time, so there was a lot of communicating to do!
Sadly, one company has gone into voluntary administration but the silver lining of that news, if we can find one, is that it’s just been that one business – we know how scared many of our clients were at the beginning and we’re really glad that so many have been able to keep going, in one way or another.
Our recent positive lending and other stories are here and the Co-op Loan fund here. The Plunkett Foundation have also published some feel good stories about the range of community initiatives that have come out of the crisis and we’ve been happy to share these – the surge of community feeling has been wonderful to observe.
Overall, we haven’t seen that much additional demand for loan finance through lockdown. It’s felt like people and organisations have hit pause on big decision making, and who can blame them? Government interventions have so far been quite successful for those that have needed emergency finance and for many co-ops taking on extra debt with such uncertainty has been a worry. The British Business Bank is the access route for loan/ debt finance which is supported by the government, underwriting/guaranteeing loans for the lenders, and paying interest for the first 12 months in most cases.
We looked at being a lender on the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme or CBILS but the market was moving very quickly. It would have taken time to get approved and we were concerned about the number of ineligible enquiries we might have seen – as a specialist lender to the co-op and community business sectors only, this could have been overwhelming for our small team.
Bounce Back Loans were and are the game changer for many co-ops and SME’s in general with good terms of up-to £50k up to six years to repay and no payments in the first 12 months. We were unable to be a lender on this programme as lenders are required to have £10m to lend, which excludes us and most other social and community lenders. Co-op Bank is an approved provider. Its not been a panacea for all though, there have been issues accessing loan finance for some co-ops and community businesses, especially among co-ops who don’t have bank accounts with the mainstream banks. Typically you have to open a new bank account before you can access the finance.
The Resilience and Recovery Loan Fund created in development with the social investment/ responsible finance sector has supported a few larger Social Enterprises but the minimum £100,000 limit on loan finance hasn’t met what most of our borrowers are looking for.
We are really keen to know if co-ops have struggled to access the finance they need from these schemes and understand how we can help.
About a third of our current portfolio are Community Pubs and are obviously at high risk. As we write, Pubs are beginning to get advice on reopening from July, but with social distancing measures still in place, how it will all work out in practice is unknown. We continue as a partner in the More than a Pub programme along with the Plunkett Foundation who have been able to provide a host of support to the still burgeoning Community Pub sector. Many of these pubs have also received C-19 Emergency Trading Income Support Scheme from Power to Change along with a range of other community businesses. These grants are to help pay ongoing costs but also to restock supplies, purchase PPE equipment, screens, layout changes, deep cleaning, etc…
We also manage the Community Shares ICOF Ltd which is a small fund that invests discreetly into community share issues. The fund is only small and we have recently prepared a proposal ‘Fresh Start’ which has been sent to a range of potential funders asking for money to enable CSI to provide small injections of equity investment to help co-op societies rebuild. If you represent a larger co-op society foundation or trust that is interested in providing patient funds for us to invest please do get in touch.
As we call in the Summer we are now very much looking forward to the recovery and rebuild of the sector and see the Autumn months as critical for many of the co-ops and community businesses we support. As staff come off furlough and enterprises try to get back to some kind of business as usual, our borrowers will experience further testing times. However, despite the turbulent few months, CCF and Co-op Loan Fund continue to be here to support our borrowers get back to business, helping rework loan terms as required and ready to lend more to help our borrowers rebuild and grow. Unlike other lenders, we are lucky to have our own funds available to lend that have been recycled many times in our history and we plan to relaunch our ICC Fund later in the year, raising new money to on lend. Please get in touch If you would like to invest either as an individual or society.
We feel confident in the future for co-ops and well placed to provide finance to a new swathe of co-ops and community businesses that will emerge from this crisis and join us in a better way of doing business and building back better. We will also be looking at new blended funds (debt and grant) opportunities likely to be available in the Autumn for our co-op customers, though these schemes are still in the design phase, so we need to be patient but watch this space and as always, do get in touch if we can help in the meantime.
This article is adapted from an interview with Coop News