Shops ‘of the plainest kind’? The architecture of England’s co-operative movement

Planners predict that our historic town and city centres will be transformed over the next decade as online shops take over from bricks-and-mortar retail outlets. But change in the High Street is nothing new. Chris Catling is reminded how we used to shop by Lynn Pearson’s recently published book on the architecture of England’s co-operative movement, winner of the Association for Industrial Archaeology’s Peter Neaverson Award for Outstanding Scholarship 2021.

The communitarian ideals behind the co-operative trading movement – joint purchasing, reduced prices, and unadulterated goods of decent quality – resulted in the formation of some 700 mutual societies in the early 1800s. Most were short-lived ventures, foundering on the rocks of poor management, lack of capital, and wrangles over ways to distribute any profit. It was not until 1844 that a group of textile workers with previous experience of running co-operative ventures got together in Rochdale to learn from past mistakes and establish a modus operandi that would lead to long-term success.

left Light streams through beehive images in the stained-glass windows of Unity House, Wakefield, which is the best surviving example in England of a co-op store with a public hall above. Some 1,200 people could originally sit beneath its hammerbeam roof. It now continues in use as an events venue. — Light streams through beehive images in the stained-glass windows of Unity House, Wakefield, which is the best surviving example in England of a co-op store with a public hall above. Some 1,200 people could originally sit beneath its hammerbeam roof. It now continues in use as an events venue.

Members contributed three old pence a week to a collective pot, which was used to pay the rent on a small shop and to purchase an initial stock of flour, butter, and oatmeal. The grandly titled Rochdale Equitable Pioneers Society began trading on 21 December 1844, initially opening for just two evenings a week. Within 12 months, there were 74 members, the store was open five evenings per week, and it had begun to generate a small profit. Lynn Pearson, author of England’s Co-operative Movement: an architectural history (see ‘Further reading’), attributes the success of what became known as the Rochdale System to cash-only trading (no credit), good management, and trustworthy bookkeeping, combined with a loyal band of customers who had a stake in the society through their subscriptions. A novel feature was to pay dividends every three months, calculated as a percentage of the amount spent at the store, rather than as a percentage of share capital. This incentivised members to use the store and it meant that the shares would have little appeal to wealthy individuals only interested in the return on their invested capital.

Birth of a movement

From such small beginnings, England’s co-operative movement was born. By the mid-1860s there were some 500 retail co-op stores in England. The first shops operated out of rented premises: the Rochdale shop, for example, was based on the ground floor of an 18th-century former wool warehouse in Toad Lane – today it is home to the Rochdale Pioneers Museum (see CA 374). By 1865, the Rochdale Pioneers had generated sufficient surplus to be able to purchase land and build the second branch at 7-11 Oldham Road. That building has also survived (it is no longer operating as a co-op) and is the focal point of the Co-operative Connections Heritage Action Zone (HAZ) programme launched in May 2018. This partnership between Historic England, Rochdale Borough Council, and a variety of local organisations is designed to revitalise one of the key gateways to the town centre.

Birth of a movement

Related Posts