Group buying the HIVE cafe in Huddersfield to make worker co-op

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This message was shared around the Radical Routes mailing list, copying here for others to see!

Hello Eveyone! (Thank you Cath for adding me to this group!)

I’m Benedict. I’m part of a project to buy HIVE Café in Huddersfield to run as a workers cooperative.

HIVE is a vegetarian and vegan community café in Huddersfield. It’s a really warm and welcoming space that’s home to several community groups and support networks. As a queer space it’s particularly important to a lot of us in Huddersfield.

Its current owners (a CIC) are no longer able to keep the café running, so we’ve decided to buy the café and run it as a non-profit workers cooperative. We are currently raising money to buy the café and cover initial operating costs. We are also in the process of registering as a cooperative society.

We have launched a crowdfunder which you can find here: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/hivecoop https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/hivecoop

We are also planning to offer loan stock. I’ll share the details of that later in the week.

Here’s our social media…
Facebook: Redirecting... https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61577912919167
Instagram: Help HIVE thrive: a co-op cafe for Huddersfield (@hive_coop) • Instagram photos and videos https://www.instagram.com/hive_coop

I’m looking forward to connecting with you all and am very excited to be joining the co-operative movement!

All the best!

Benedict

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Was in a co-op get together in Slaithwaite a couple of weeks ago (supported by our excellent Co-op Group champion or activator or whatever they’re called) and Ben was there, seems The Hive is going pretty well. Topic: food & community growing, present also folks from Suma, Unicorn, Dewsbury Arcade, Green Valley Grocer, Northern Roots, Handmade Bakery and someone who’d done their thesis or dissertation on co-ops marketing their values. Good discussion. Anyone wanting connections i’ll get Rachel Mallon to pass them on.

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