UK gets first co-operative urban pub

The UK’s first urban co-operative pub, The Star Inn in Salford, launched yesterday.

Co-operatives UK, which represents co-operative enterprises across the country, is promoting this business model as a potential way to slow the current rate of pub closures, which the organisation calculates currently stands at one every three hours.

Having been given three weeks’ notice of closure, The Star Inn, which has served the community since 1867, was saved when locals clubbed together to restore the business as a co-operative venture.

The project coincides with the launch of a report, Calling Time on Pub Closures – The Co-operative Answer, which identifies rising trends in pub closures and offers advice on the creation of co-operative pubs. The document has been written by Ed Mayo, secretary general of Co-operatives UK, and Julian Ross, who was involved in the set-up of the UK’s first co-operative pub, The Old Crown in Hesket Newmarket, rural Cumbria.

Emphasising the important community role played by pubs, Mayo said: “It is scandalous that pubs like The Star Inn are being closed at three weeks’ notice and it is a tribute to the community in Salford that they responded in an innovative answer to the threat of closure."

While admitting the co-operative route was not a blanket solution for the pub industry, Ross encouraged other communities with threatened pubs to consider the option, outlining five top tips for action:

• Establish a robust business case
• Encourage as many people as possible to buy into the idea
• Seek advice about setting up a business and talk to banks, other regulars and Co-operatives UK about how to structure your co-operative
• Establish who owns the pub
• Consider carefully who will run the pub.

To download a copy of the report, click here

Gabriel Savage, 26.01.10