Plunkett report on Co-Operative Pubs

We thought you might be interested in the Plunkett report on Co-Operative Pubs, the one that Peter went down to Parliament to see the launch of recently.

It’s all a good read (and includes a lovely picture of us 😀 ) – but of particular interest is their clarification on p18 of the two different types of IPS – the one “for the benefit of the community”, which we are, and a “bona-fide Co-Operative” which operates for the benefit of the shareholders. As our governing body already states, we will pay interest on the loan that a shareholding represents, at a level capped at 3% above the Bank of England’s base rate; a “bona-fide Co-Operative” can pay much higher dividends, and does not generally have the safeguards we have built in around assets going back into the community in the unlikely circumstances that the pub fails.

This clarification will mean a name change in the future – we will become a “Community Benefit Society” in due course – but we also hope that it will be easier for us to raise grants, as grant bodies will not need to be concerned that shareholders will try and extract huge profits.

Here’s the link to the report: Plunkett report on Co-operative pubs

Nicky.

(Business Planning & Grants committee member)