We are absolutely thrilled to see the amazing Stir to Action New Economy Programme workshops starting again.
Following on from a successful first year in 2018/19, which saw workshops run in Bristol, Dorset, London and Oxford, this new academic year sees the workshops extend geographically, to include Newcastle, Bradford, Plymouth and Dorset as well as coming back to Bristol and London. As a Programme Sponsor, we are delighted to see this extension.
There are also a range of funding opportunities this year, with support coming from Power to Change, Lush and more.
We’ve heard really good things about these workshops from previous attendees, and support them wholeheartedly. We hope you find one that suits you and are able to take advantage of it.
Have you heard of Community Shares? Interested – but not sure what they mean?
This fantastic video from Community Shares Scotland is a great way to understand what Community Shares are all about – as they say in it, ‘If your community believes in something then investing in Community Shares can make it happen’.
‘Community shares’ are withdrawable share capital; a form of share capital that can only be issued by co-operative societies, community benefit societies and charitable community benefit societies.
Share investments like these save local shops, pubs and facilities, finance renewable energy schemes, transform community facilities, support local food growing, fund new football clubs, restore heritage buildings, and above all, build stronger, more vibrant, and independent communities.
Since 2009, almost 120,000 people have invested over £100m to support 350 community businesses throughout the UK. If you’re thinking of a community business – could they be for you?
We are always proud to be part of the vibrant co-operative economy, but when reports like Co-operatives UK ‘The Co-op Economy 2019’ come out and reveal numbers like these, it’s a wonderful opportunity to take a moment, pause and reflect on how things are going.
No-one would say that everything is rosy here in the UK at the moment, but what’s clear is that in many ways co-ops are bucking the trend with 72% of co-ops flourishing after the first five years of business, compared to 43% of companies.
It’s interesting to note, though, the slight drop in the number of co-ops. There are 51 fewer in operation than a year ago and 41 fewer started in 2019 than in 2018.
A slowing rate of new start-ups is a serious concern as is the decline in registered worker-owned co-ops, down 52 from 492 in 2015 to 440 in 2019.
We at Co-operative and Community Finance have lent to over half of the ‘worker co-ops’ in the report’s top ten list over the past 46 years and been delighted to see them grow as a result. To see the sector in decline is frustrating. We frequently challenge ourselves to do more and are in discussions with other co-operative development organisations and practitioners to develop a new approach to promote the worker co-op model. How do you think this could be done better?
We will, of course, continue to be part of conversations across the wider family of co-op and community business sectors and are always keen to understand what we could do to grow the co-op economy as a whole– do tell us if you have ideas. Recently, for example, we were proud to be at the table for important discussions with Government, looking in from outside with them to see what support can be provided across the nation. We look forward to more progressive thinking from the government; whoever that may be.
We would agree with the report that the sector is ‘yet to reach critical mass’. It is, in fact, far from it, and we are committed to being part of it getting there. We know how much interest there is and how much potential there is, and we also know that Worker and Community Ownership makes business better. Not only are co-ops more resilient, but more responsive to the needs of local people and communities. Whatever happens next, we will be there to provide the finance it needs.
The people of a small village in rural Herefordshire are eagerly awaiting the re-opening of their pub after they saved it from redevelopment and secured its future by buying it for the local community. With the substantial renovation nearly finished [writing at 23 August 2019] and the tenants installed, The Boot Inn at Orleton near Ludlow is expected to start selling beer (locally brewed, of course) and serving food in the next few weeks.
“We are planning to re-open slowly and make sure we have got everything right before we hold a big celebration,” said John Alderman, the chair of the community benefit society that now owns the pub.
The Boot Inn is an attractive black-and-white timber-framed building that dates back to the 17th century when it was once three shops, including a cobblers (hence the name). The pub building is grade II listed and in the large garden there is a more ancient structure reputed to be the smallest dwelling in Herefordshire that was still occupied 50 years ago. The new community owners plan to make this into a mini museum.
The pub had once been the happy heart of the village but more recently had been neglected by the last owner who wanted to redevelop the whole site (over half an acre) for housing. It closed in June 2017.
The villagers frustrated the plans by having the pub declared an Asset of Community Value. After seeking advice from various organisations and other community-owned pubs, they set up a community benefit society to raise investment via a community share issue to buy and renovate The Boot Inn. The purchase was completed in January 2019.
The substantial renovation has included the roof, kitchen, bar, living accommodation, electrics, plumbing, and a new wheelchair accessible front entrance.
The tenants appointed to run the business are Chris and Hollie Thorpe, who both have extensive experience in catering and hospitality. Chris used to manage The Boot Inn when it was a successful venture and is well liked in the village.
John Alderman said: “We have saved our local pub and secured its future. In a small rural village like Orleton the pub can be a significant employer and can provide opportunities for young people. I’m pleased to say that Chris and Hollie are creating one full-time and 12 part-time jobs.”
Ian Rothwell, Investment Manager for Co-operative & Community Finance, said: “The purchase, renovation and reopening of The Boot Inn is a big project and we were happy to provide part of the finance needed in the form of a loan. I visited when the renovation work was just starting. It’s a lovely old pub, with outbuildings and a large garden. You could see it has plenty of potential. Also, it is very reassuring to know that it has been run successfully in the past by the very same person who is going to be the new tenant.”
The community share issue has so far raised over £325,000 from 283 investors. In addition, the community received advice. a grant and a loan under the More Than A Pub programme which was set up in 2016 to support community ownership of pubs in England. This programme is funded by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and Power to Change, and is delivered by Plunkett Foundation working in partnership with Co-operative & Community Finance and Key Fund. The society also received a separate grant from The Pub is the Hub.
[The photo shows the first work party assembled at The Boot Inn on 3 February 2019]
You may well have heard that Co-operatives UK and the Employee Ownership Association want to create #1MillionOwners by 2020. To support this, they are calling on the UK government to invest £2m in the upcoming spending review to support a voluntary expansion of employee and worker-owned businesses.
We are fully and wholeheartedly behind this. Co-operatives and worker/employee owned businesses create and sustain strong communities, keep money flowing locally and help people take more control of their economic lives. As Ian Rothwell, our Investment Manager says,
‘Worker ownership is at the heart of Co-operative and Community Finance‘s mission. As someone who worked for many years in a worker owned co-operative, I can say without any hesitation that CCF will always do our best to support worker ownership.’
A successful private member’s bill introduced the 1976 Industrial Common Ownership Act which provided £250,000 of funding to lend to co-operative enterprises. This established ICOF as “the relevant national body for co-operative finance” with central government and demonstrated UK Government recognition of the importance of Co-ops to the economy.
CCF’s Board has a designated place for a representative from the Worker Co-op council and the majority of members have direct experience of working in a worker owned business
In the 1990s, CCF widened the lending to support community-owned business and to help people take more control of their economic lives. This is achieved through lending at risk to enable people to own and democratically control the businesses operating in their own communities. We are delighted to see such a bold an ambitious target as #1MillionOwners and will do everything we can to help achieve it.
‘We feel understood. We feel the empathy. We feel respected’
The results are in from our 2019 borrower Survey and we couldn’t be more proud. An impressive 92% rated us as Very Good, up from 76% in 2018, and 88% said that if they needed a further loan, it would be ‘Very likely’ or ‘Likely’ that they would come to us.
On the 10th July, we were kindly invited by Co-operatives UK to a round table mutual workshop event with the aim of “Creating the conditions for people to form and develop successful, innovative coops and mutuals” hosted by HM Treasury to help feed into British Business Bank policy.
We gathered on a hot day in Westminster at 100 Parliament Street, which also houses HM Revenue and Customs, the Department for Media and Sport and the Department for Exiting the European Union.
With Ed Mayo and James Wright from Co-operatives UK facilitating the event, there were also representatives from HM Treasury, HMRC, the FCA, the PRA, the Building Societies Association, Nationwide and Royal London Insurers. A broad mutual church if you will.
We were invited to contribute to the first two sessions, ‘Can we make it as easy and natural to form a co-operative or mutual as it is a company?’ and ‘Are there tangible ways to improve access to growth capital for co-ops and mutuals?’
It was apparent that there is a lack of awareness, understanding of and good advice for co-ops amongst mainstream business advisors. Co-operative and Community Finance believe there should be properly resourced co-op development bodies that give start-up business advice. A whole network of independent co-op advisors has been lost in the last 30 years, so it is vital to re-establish government and local authority support for financing co-op development.
In terms of mutual incorporation, there have been huge leaps forward brought about by close liaison between Cooperatives UK and the FCA Mutuals section. This has resulted in a new online portal, a far more accessible and free public register and reduced annual fees for societies. The FCA are to be congratulated for this progress.
The discussion turned to how start-up capital can be a barrier to the formation of co-ops. The survival rates for new co-ops according to Cooperatives UK are 80% compared to 44% in non-co-op businesses. As such, exploring start-up loans for the sector that are tailored to co-op formation that come with specialist co-op advice and support was an exciting concept that had support around the table.
It was recognised that community shares have been incredibly successful in crowdfunding start-up capital for community benefit societies, but this is often not possible or the most appropriate route for small new start worker coops. Evidence of what works from the UK and around the world suggests that co-ops can thrive when they also raise equity and debt investment from external sources. Patient capital could be the driver here.
Given the various forms of co-op legal structure, community benefit societies, worker co-ops, employee-owned businesses and mutuals, financially growing and nurturing all of these will take different approaches.
A good start would be to properly resource the co-operative development advisor network and reverse the decline seen in recent decades of high quality and professional co-op business advice.
Couple this with a capital fund for new start co-ops that could sit alongside a patient capital fund that would support both community share vehicles and employee ownership and we have CCF’s coop support wishlist for the British Business Bank!
John Glen, Economic Secretary to the Treasury did make himself available at the end of the session to reiterate his genuine desire to make the most of his brief for co-ops and mutuals. Watch this space!
Here at Co-operative and Community Finance, we’ve worked with the Plunkett Foundation for many years – in 2006 we were partners in a project which was then called Village Core. This was a programme where business support was provided by Plunkett, the local community raised finance, we provided a loan and with financial support from the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, they received a matching grant.
It was extremely successful, we helped well over 100 rural, community owned shops to start up and develop and what is particularly pleasing is that they are all continuing to trade today. We are now partners in More Than a Pub, a similar programme of business support, community finance, a loan and a grant to help community owned pubs.
With such a close relationship, it was a pleasure to attend their AGM in Bristol recently to celebrate their 100 year anniversary and pleasing to hear how well they are doing with More than a pub, as well as several other exciting projects on the go, including:
Making Local Woods Work – supporting the growth of the community woodland sector
The Inspire Programme – promoting the benefits of the co-operative/community owned business approach
A UK wide Advice Line – a free service giving guidance on setting up or running a community business
Their achievements in 2018 are impressive, supporting the opening 50 new community businesses and assisting well over 500 new communities who contacted them for support. There are now about 600 community owned businesses in the UK, including the community owned shop in Ambridge! (for Radio 4 Archers fans)
It was also really interesting to hear from Kate Targett who has spent the last few years transcribing, annotating and indexing 51 volumes of Horace Plunkett’s diaries. A mammoth effort, given his appalling handwriting, but she was able to give a fascinating insight into Horace’s life and the sort of person he was.
Here’s to the next 100 years of the Plunkett Foundation – we are pleased to be on the journey with you.
A community pub in Devon that has been run successfully by volunteers for eight years, was today (19 July) bought freehold by the local community. The Stoke Canon Inn, just five miles from Exeter, is now owned by a community benefit society with 140 members who have collectively invested £120,000. This investment, together with loans from Co-operative & Community Finance and Triodos Bank, has enabled the villagers to secure the future of their local pub.
The only pub in Stoke Canon (population of 660) closed in 2007 and was sold by the pub company to a property developer. The developer renovated and let the large three-bedroom flat on the first floor but left the pub area on the ground floor empty. After a few years without a pub, the community approached the owner with a proposal to lease the trading part of the premises. An agreement was reached, and a company limited by shares, called Stoke Canon Inn Limited, was set up in April 2011 to take on the lease and run the pub. The company is run as a co-operative with each of the 107 shareholders having an equal investment and just one vote.
For the last eight years the business has been run by a team of some 30 volunteers. There is one employee who is the manager, volunteer co-ordinator and designated premises supervisor. The operation of the kitchen is franchised to a self-employed chef, who has built a good reputation for traditional pub food, Sunday roasts and barbeques.
The pub offers a wide range of activities including darts, live music, bingo, quizzes and meetings of various clubs. It is the focal point for events such as the annual firework display and the Stoke Canon Festival. In October 2018, Stoke Canon Inn was included in the Guardian newspaper’s Top 50 Pubs in the UK
Last year the owner indicated that he wished to sell the premises. The local people, who feared losing their pub for a second time, sought advice from More Than A Pub and The Pub Is The Hub and set up a community benefit society to raise investment and buy the freehold. After a successful community share issue and sale negotiation the pub was bought by Stoke Canon Community Pub Ltd.
The new community benefit society owns the premises and the original company runs the pub as a tenant. The relationship between the two organisations is “like two cheeks of the same backside” said Maggy Clark, Chair of Stoke Canon Community Pub Ltd. “Many people have shares in both. It was less complicated to set up a new structure to attract the investment we needed for the purchase than to change the rules of the existing company.”
Because the community was already running the pub, the business of serving food and drinks has continued without interruption. However, the transfer of ownership will make a big difference to other things. The community benefit society will receive rent from the first floor flat, after it has been refurbished and let, and this will help to repay the loans. Maggy Clark says that several local trades persons have offered their services at very low rates or even free because they know that the building, car park and garden belongs to the village.
“We will continue to run the pub in the same way, with a paid manager and a team of volunteers. It works well, it makes people feel good and it holds the community together,” said Maggy Clark. “I’d recommend this to anyone like me who is retired. Otherwise we’d just be gardening.”
The community received advice. a grant and a loan under the More Than A Pub programme which was set up in 2016 to support community ownership of pubs in England. This programme, which has recently been renewed, is funded by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and Power to Change, and is delivered by Plunkett Foundation. Co-operative & Community Finance arranges loan finance for groups that have successfully attracted local investment, usually in the form of community shares.
Ian Rothwell, Investment Manager for Co-operative & Community Finance, said: “Usually I don’t get to see the pub operational when carrying out an appraisal, but here I could see the pub in action, taste the food and meet the bar manager, chef, local activists and customers. The pub had a great feel to it and certainly the customers I met were really engaged and relished the opportunity to purchase it.”
Bar staff volunteers Pete, Maureen and Alison with manager Jodie (right), who is the only employee.
Community pubs are bucking the national trend – while almost a quarter of privately-owned pubs have shut down since 2008 community pubs have a 100% success rate. We see the benefits they bring to communities. So often, they are much, much more than a pub, they are the beating heart of a village.
The Spotted Cow at Holbrook is a great example of this. Two years ago, we were glad to support them with a loan of £125,000. The Society had raised funds to buy their pub but hadn’t enough money to renovate – and as it had been entirely stripped by receivers, it badly needed the help. We spoke to Stephanie Limb there to find out how they are getting on, two years down the line.
The Society – 225 local members and investors – planned to refit the pub, create a café area and a guest room, and they needed every stick of furniture and piece of equipment to do that. The renovations provided a great opportunity for the community to get together. As Stephanie says, ‘we would have struggled if we didn’t have so many fabulous volunteers. They did all kinds of things – joinery, decorating – and saved us loads of money’.
The Grand Opening was scheduled for the 15th July and slightly later than hoped, the kitchen was fitted the day before. ‘It was quite crazy’ remembers Stephanie, ‘it was fine while we were serving cakes but when it came to people ordering food, we had to learn quickly how to cook everything in our brand new kitchen!’
Fast forward to today, two years in, and the pub is doing well. Owned by The Holbrook Community Society, it’s run by the appropriately named husband-and-wife team, landlord and landlady Paul and Cheryl Brew – chosen by the Society because they understood the vision of an evolving model that caters for what the community needs.
Alongside the pub, there’s also The Spotted Calf – also owned by the Society – a community café and hub using local suppliers and that much wanted guest room. It houses a Post Office, which was to be lost to the village, benefiting the community both by keeping money in local circulation, as well as keeping people connected.
Plans for the future are to increase trading with more events, which the Society know bring people together, reduce isolation and strengthen connection. Stephanie has just started on the School for Social Entrepreneurs Power to Change Community Trade Up programme to support this work,
If you’re near Holbrook this weekend, join in the birthday celebrations. On Friday after school, there’s face painting and balloon modelling and then on Saturday, there’s a big breakfast event. And further into the future, watch out for the Damson Fair – this almost 100 year old autumn event has been revived by the Society, celebrating the local connection to damsons, previously used as dyestuff in local stocking factories. The last Damson Fair was held in 1920 – we’re marking our diary for the 100 year event in 2020.
We’re sure you’ll join us in wishing the team at Holbrook a happy second birthday – and wherever you are in the country, find more community businesses here
