News
Do you live or work in a ‘left behind’ place?
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. […]
AGM highlights online
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 […]
Village celebrates new future for the Fox
[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 […]
Community ownership secures future of village shop and pub
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 […]
Losing your local? Save it NOW with More Than A Pub
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 […]
Fan power breathes new life into the old dog
[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 […]
Churchill’s White House saved by community buyout
[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 […]
New funding – £18.7m grant fund for social enterprises
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, […]
Thank you Heart of England Co-operative Society!
We are delighted to announce that the Heart of England Co-operative Society has invested £10,000 in our ICOF Community Capital (ICC) loan fund, to help pioneering communities thrive. The ICOF fund aims to provide loan capital to support both new and growing co-operative and community businesses that provide social and environmental benefits. A recent market […]
Up to £100k for community organisations in England – three short application periods
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 […]
Let’s raise a glass to community pubs
While we know there are challenges ahead, we, like many of you, are looking forward to our beloved pubs reopening tomorrow. Now all we need is the weather to ensure socially distanced outdoor eating and drinking can happen – hello summer! Pubs are often at the heart of their communities, and those that are owned […]
How we #KeepCooperating
We are the lender for social purpose – our funds come from co-ops, co-operators and are recycled to support co-ops and co-operators time and again! This is how we #KeepCooperating as Co-op Fortnight 2020 comes to an end with #coopsday 4th July and year round! Our video is a bit old now but we think […]