Type | Consumer Co-operative |
---|---|
Industry | Retail, Agriculture |
Founded | 1868 |
Headquarters | , |
Area served | Somerset, England |
Key people | Don Morris CEO [1] |
Revenue | £47.9 million (2020/21) [2] |
£745,000 (2020/21) [2] | |
£644,000 (2020/21) [2] | |
Total assets | £13.4 million (2015/16) [3] |
Members | 7,000 (2014) [1] |
Number of employees | 369 (2014) [1] |
Website | www.radstockcoop.co.uk |
Radstock Co-operative Society is a small regional consumer co-operative, which was established in Radstock, Somerset, England in 1868 and in 2023 operated 21 food stores across Somerset, three with post office facilities, alongside a 1,000 acre farm. [4] It is owned and democratically controlled by its customer members, who numbered approximately 7000 in 2014. [1] The society grew from a turnover of £15 million in 2006 to over £35m by 2016, doubling the number of stores over the period. [5] The business has held the Fair Tax Mark since 2016.
In 2016, the society operated a large supermarket in Radstock and eighteen convenience shops in nearby areas. [3] The society also owns Manor Farm at Hardington, a dairy farm [2] which supplies a substantial portion of the organic milk sold through UK Co-operative Stores. It previously owned a Homemaker Furniture store.
In 2020 the society obtained planning permission to replace its Radstock "superstore" with a housing and new store development. The old single-storey building was beyond economical repair, and will replaced with two three-storey buildings and a public square. [6] In August 2020 the store was moved to temporary premises for the duration of the redevelopment. [2] Demolition of the old building started in November 2022. [7]
The society participates in the British co-operative movement. As well as supplying cheese for national distribution by the Co-operative Retail Trading Group (CRTG) through a milk processor, it obtains food goods from the CRTG. It is a corporate member and shareholder of The Co-operative Group, a national business that is successor to the Co-operative Wholesale Society. In line with many retail co-operatives across the UK, during the late 2000s the society began converting its stores from the 1993 dark blue Co-op cloverleaf branding, to green “The co-operative food” fascias, alongside acquiring stores in Shepton Mallet and Coleford. [8] [9]
Shepton Mallet is a market town and civil parish in Somerset, England, some 16 miles (26 km) south-west of Bath, 18 miles (29 km) south of Bristol and 5 miles (8.0 km) east of Wells. It had an estimated population of 10,810 in 2019. Mendip District Council was based there. The Mendip Hills lie to the north and the River Sheppey runs through the town, as does the route of the Fosse Way, the main Roman road between north-east and south-west England. There is evidence of Roman settlement. Its listed buildings include a medieval parish church. Shepton Mallet Prison was England's oldest, but closed in March 2013. The medieval wool trade gave way to trades such as brewing in the 18th century. It remains noted for cider production. It is the closest town to the Glastonbury Festival and nearby the Royal Bath and West of England Society showground.
Mendip was a local government district of Somerset in England. The district covered a largely rural area of 285 square miles (738 km2) with a population of approximately 112,500, ranging from the Wiltshire border in the east to part of the Somerset Levels in the west. The district took its name from the Mendip Hills. The administrative centre of the district was Shepton Mallet but the largest town was Frome.
Radstock is a town and civil parish on the northern slope of the Mendip Hills in Somerset, England, about 9 miles (14 km) south-west of Bath and 8 miles (13 km) north-west of Frome. It is within the area of the unitary authority of Bath and North East Somerset. The Radstock built-up area had a population of 9,419 at the 2011 Census.
Midsomer Norton is a town near the Mendip Hills in Bath and North East Somerset, England, 10 miles (16 km) south-west of Bath, 10 miles (16 km) north-east of Wells, 10 miles (16 km) north-west of Frome, 12 miles (19 km) west of Trowbridge and 16 miles (26 km) south-east of Bristol. It has a population of around 13,000. Along with Radstock and Westfield it used to be part of the conurbation and large civil parish of Norton Radstock, but is now a town council in its own right. It is also part of the unitary authority of Bath and North East Somerset.
Chilcompton is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated in the Mendip Hills two miles south of Midsomer Norton and 3.0 miles south-west of Westfield. It is situated on the B3139 road between Radstock and Wells, close to the A37.
North East Somerset is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament, since it was created for the 2010 general election, by Jacob Rees-Mogg of the Conservative Party.
Ashwick is a village in Somerset, England, about three miles north of Shepton Mallet and seven miles east from Wells. It has also been a civil parish since 1826. The parish had a population of 1,352 according to the 2011 census, and apart from Ashwick village also includes Gurney Slade and Oakhill.
Co-operative Retail Services was the second-largest consumer co-operative society in the United Kingdom. In 2000, it was dissolved by its members, merging with the larger Co-operative Wholesale Society, to form the Co-operative Group (CWS) Ltd.
The Somerset Coalfield in northern Somerset, England is an area where coal was mined from the 15th century until 1973. It is part of a larger coalfield which stretched into southern Gloucestershire. The Somerset coalfield stretched from Cromhall in the north to the Mendip Hills in the south, and from Bath in the east to Nailsea in the west, a total area of about 240 square miles (622 km2). Most of the pits on the coalfield were concentrated in the Cam Brook, Wellow Brook and Nettlebridge Valleys and around Radstock and Farrington Gurney. The pits were grouped geographically, with clusters of pits close together working the same coal seams often under the same ownership. Many pits shared the trackways and tramways which connected them to the Somerset Coal Canal or railways for distribution.
Emborough is a village and civil parish 5 miles (8.0 km) north of Shepton Mallet, and 5 miles (8.0 km) north east of Wells, in the Mendip district of Somerset, England. It adjoins the parish of Ston Easton. It is situated on the B3139 between Radstock and Wells, just off the A37 road.
East Somerset was the name of a parliamentary constituency in Somerset, represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom between 1832 and 1918.
The Bristol and North Somerset Railway was a railway line in the West of England that connected Bristol with Radstock, through Pensford and further into northern Somerset, to allow access to the Somerset Coalfield. The line ran almost due south from Bristol and was 16 miles (26 km) long.
The Clydebank Co-operative Society Limited is the smallest consumers' co-operative in Scotland, based in the town of Clydebank near Glasgow. Along with Scotmid and The Co-operative Group, it is one of three consumer co-operative retail societies in Scotland, and the only one not merged into a regional or national society.
Federal Retail and Trading Services (FRTS) is the central buying group for co-operative retail societies in the United Kingdom. It came into its current structure in 2015, though its predecessor was established in 1993, and it supplies almost all food bought for sale by the over 4,000 co-operative foodstores in the UK. The buying group is owned and controlled by each of its member societies but is managed by The Co-operative Group on their behalf. It operates by pooling the collective £8.5bn buying power for 18 co-operative societies in the UK, allowing them to negotiate better prices from suppliers, so as to compete effectively with other UK supermarket chains.
L & F Jones Holdings Ltd is a company based in Westfield, Somerset, England, that includes a chain of convenience shops, a wholesale food business, and a Best Western PLUS hotel. The retail chain consists of twelve shops in Somerset, Wiltshire, Dorset, South Gloucestershire, and Bristol.
Westfield is a settlement lying on the Fosse Way between Radstock and Midsomer Norton in Somerset, England. In 2011 it was raised to the status of a civil parish.