Why Co-operatives Deserve More Attention

If you are starting a business or taking over an existing one, choosing the right business model is critical, and forming a co-operative may be one of the smartest decisions you can make.

And I don’t just mean the well-known blue-and-white brand ‘Co-op Group’ stores – though that’s one example. I mean the thousands of businesses that are owned and run by the people who use them or work in them. Their members. 

What surprises most people I speak to is just how varied co-operatives can be. There are over 7,000 co-operatives across the UK, in every sector and industry.  A pub can be a co-operative, a bike shop, a music venue, almost anything. And because there’s no single legal form for co-operatives in the UK, what defines them isn’t a specific structure – it’s the principles they follow.

Those principles give them staying power – something many business owners would happily welcome. The numbers back that up: new co‑operatives are more than twice as likely to survive beyond five years as other UK businesses – 82 per cent compared to 39 per cent according to Co-operative UK. It’s a difference that’s hard to ignore.

A lot of that resilience comes from their history. Co-operatives aren’t new. One of the first well-known examples was in Rochdale in 1844, when 28 working-class men pooled their money to open a shop selling good-quality products at fair prices.

Now, my guess is that they weren’t trying to start a movement. They were simply trying to build something that worked better for their families and community – a genuine win-win. But what they created, by working together, and sharing goals, became the model for co-operatives across the UK and around the world. 

This community-first approach – bottom-up rather than top-down – is still at the heart of co-operatives today. That doesn’t mean they all work the same way financially. Some are for-profit, some aren’t. The members decide what happens to any profits.

One inspiring example close to home is The Antwerp Arms in Tottenham. When the pub faced closure in 2015, local residents went a step further than just campaigning to save it, they actually took ownership of it. They raised around £125,000 by selling community shares from £50 upwards, with help from a donation from Tottenham Hotspur to get them over the line.

A decade later, now run as a co-operative, the pub is still going strong: supported by a dedicated group of now members – previously volunteers – known as Annie’s Angels. 

Over the 10 years and during the pandemic, it’s those members who turned the pub into a community kitchen, delivering more than 40,000 meals to isolated residents – a service that still runs every Monday. 

It’s the kind of impact that’s incredibly hard to create from outside the community, and shows what people-first businesses like co-operatives, often reflective of the communities they serve, can do.

And it’s not a one-off story. Community-owned pubs are on the up, with a 51% increase over the last five years and a 13% increase in the last year. 

Co-operatives can also play a positive role in widening equality and opportunity. Nearly a quarter of the UK’s top 100 co‑operatives are led by women, more than double the rate in big companies.  And while there’s still more to do, the gender pay gap is smaller in co‑operatives, with women earning 7.5% less than men on average (compared to 12% across the UK). 

There are wider benefits too. Businesses owned and controlled by the people that work in them are around 10% more productive on average.

Despite all of this, co-operatives still make up less than 1% of UK businesses. So, there’s clearly room to grow – even if that just means more people understanding what a co-operative is and whether the model could work for them.

That’s why we at Grow London Local, along with partners across the South East, are offering support and webinars for anyone who wants to explore the co-operative model or look to covert to one.

Of course, co-operatives aren’t the only way to run a business. And they won’t guarantee overnight success. But they offer something more important: a viable model built to last.