News & Views
Featured Stories
Radical bookshop buys former bank
A 40-year old radical bookshop co-operative named after the Russian Revolution is now the legal owner of a former bank building which it plans to turn into a community hub. On 6 August October Books in Southampton completed the purchase of 189 Portswood Road which for many years had been a branch of NatWest Bank. […]
Innovative ventures in food and farming
In 2017 we continued to work with the Real Farming Trust and Esmée Fairbairn Foundation to deliver the Just Growth programme. This 18-month initiative was set up to nurture community enterprises that are farming and producing food in a responsible way. Six projects received a funding package made up of one third loan finance, one […]
Helping multi-stakeholder co-ops to grow
During 2017 we helped two very different multi-stakeholder co‑operatives to expand and develop. RetrofitWorks RetrofitWorks, based in London, is a multi-stakeholder co-operative whose members include both owners/managers of housing stock such as local authorities, housing associations and charities, and tradespeople and building companies. Megan Williams, Projects Manager at RetrofitWorks, said: “RetrofitWorks brings together the supply […]
Recent Lending
Radical bookshop buys former bank
A 40-year old radical bookshop co-operative named after the Russian Revolution is now the legal owner of a former bank building which it plans to turn into a community hub. On 6 August October Books in Southampton completed the purchase of 189 Portswood Road which for many years had been a branch of NatWest Bank. […]
Knocking again
The residents of Caverswall, near Stoke on Trent, flocked to the Auctioneers Arms on 19 May 2018 to celebrate the reopening of their local pub, affectionately named The Knocks. The glorious day started with a speech from the town crier of Leek, Bill Lomas, before the bar was officially opened. This marked the end of […]
Circus can still surprise after 250 years
The world’s first circus performance is thought to have taken place in London in 1768. Today, in this 250th anniversary year, one of the champions of the transformative power of circus is an extraordinary social enterprise based in a former mining village in south Wales. Operating from the old church hall in Gwaun Cae Gurwen, […]
500 year old pub saved
The people of Ash, near Sandwich in Kent, have succeed in buying the 500-year old Chequer Inn that has been closed for four years. The pub had previously been bought by a developer but the villagers blocked the planning application and persuaded the local authority to make the pub and Asset of Community Value. They […]
Another village pub saved by community ownership
The residents of the small village of Winterbourne Bassett in Wiltshire are celebrating a new acquisition – their local pub, which has been bought by a community benefit society set up just five months ago. Many of the ‘new owners’ gathered in the pub last weekend to toast their success and start the refurbishment. One […]
Going, going, gone! Sold to the community.
The New Year started well for the people of Cookshill and Caverswall, neighbouring villages on the outskirts of Stoke on Trent. On 5 January their long fight to save their pub from demolition came to an end when the Auctioneers Arms was bought by Caverswall Community Society. Some 130 local people had bought shares in […]
Blogs
New chair appointed
Jon Nott has been appointed to be chair of the ICOF Group and ICOF Community Capital. Jon takes over from Jo White who stepped down at the AGMs held on 26 June after seven years as chair. Jon was elected to the board in 2017 which makes him a relative newcomer but he has a […]
Farewell Jo, Welcome Dan
Long standing director and trustee Jo White stood down at the Annual General Meetings held on 26 June 2018. Jo had been on the board of the various companies and societies involved in the ICOF family of businesses for 15 years and she had been chair since 2011. She had combined this exacting voluntary position […]
Satisfied customers
‘Thank you for being there, we couldn’t have done this without you” is how one co-op described their experience of borrowing from us. An impressive 85% of our borrowers say Co-operative & Community Finance would be their first choice for another loan, if they needed one. This was one of the most striking results of […]
BBC seeks positive lending stories
The BBC has asked if any of our borrowers would be like to be featured in a series about the ethical finance. It would be good publicity for the co-op featured, for us, and for the co-op movement generally. If you are interested you need to respond quickly. Filming has already started and will continue […]
Our AGM and More Than A Pub conference
Tuesday 26 June 2018 For Co-operative & Community Finance 2017 was certainly the Year of the Pub. We lent nearly £688,000 to 10 community pub groups. With 2018 set to follow that trend we thought it apt to hold our AGM this year at the More Than a Pub national conference. So this year the […]
Help us build a thriving co-operative sector
We are actively looking for new people to join our board of directors. Co-operative & Community Finance is a well-established and respected organisation which has supported the sector with finance for 45 years. We continue to grow steadily in an ever changing environment and are looking for enthusiastic individuals to help us navigate the challenges […]