News
Our reflections on The Co-op Economy 2019
7215 independent co-ops in the UK 233,733 people employed by co-ops. 13.7 million members. Annual turnover £37.7 billion. 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, […]
Village pub gives housing plan the boot
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 […]
We’re behind worker ownership
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 […]
2019 Borrower Survey Results
‘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’ […]
Mutual Aid – a Day at HM Treasury
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 […]
Celebrating 100 years at Plunkett Foundation AGM
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 […]
“Like two cheeks of the same backside”
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 […]
Happy birthday to The Spotted Cow and Calf!
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 […]
Tim reflects on Co-op Congress 2019
Congress attendees had a rude awakening on Saturday morning with a false fire alarm before its start; not ideal for delicate heads following a night of high excitement generated by the 2019 Co-op of the Year Awards! More than 30,000 votes had been cast in the public vote prior to the event, which seems huge […]
Thank you to everyone who came to our AGM and Networking Lunch!
The dust has settled after a few busy weeks of events, and we want to say a big thank you to everyone who came to our well received AGM and networking lunch on the 13th of June in Bristol. Financially it was all good news on all companies and we are delighted to share news […]
Cheers! More Than A Pub is back!
We are delighted to share in the news that the Plunkett Foundation ‘More Than A Pub’ programme, supporting communities across England to save their local pub, is back – with a £2.2million funding pot. Launching today at The Dog Inn in Belthorn, Lancashire, the programme will run for 18 months, until December 2020. As a previous and […]
More Than A Pub relaunches on the 19th June!
We are thrilled to share in the news that the popular and successful More Than A Pub, the support programme for communities looking to take over their local pub is back! Being one of the two loan providers to the programme, and having supported Community Pubs like the Three Horseshoes at Hellions Bumpstead, the Bluebell […]