The Local Co-operative Society

Few people realise that the Co-op is still run by ordinary people, not big shareholders or by directors who are insulated from the lives of their customers. Not that local co-ops are what they were in years gone by. Shepshed Co-op used to keep their own cow, now like Loughborough Industrial Co-operative Society, it has merged with others to eventually become the Midlands Co-operative Society, based in Lichfield.

But there are still annual elections for the Board, conducted in all the shops. The Midlands Co-op votes on Friday 23rd & Saturday 24th April 1999 in all Leicester & Loughborough Region shops, including Hermitage Road and Swan Street, Loughborough. You just take your share passbook to the shop keeper and select those you wish to see running the Society. Behind the names and descriptions some big issues are at stake. How does the Co-op compete effectively in a tough market without simply becoming a clone of the big superstores? We want efficiency and low prices, but we also complain when the local shop closes. Should the Co-op do more to support other socially owned businesses and where does the Labour Party look on the Co-op now that it appears to support private business more? Challenging questions? I hope you think so.

Here's a great Loughborough co-operator and chartist speaking in the early nineteenth century. John Skevington.

More about the Co-op, in fact from the co-operative wholesale society standpoint. The CWS also runs the Bank and CIS insurance.

Last updated Oct 1999