Co-operative plans to breathe new life into old music venue

Wakefield’s Unity Hall, which was built in the 1880s, has hosted events as diverse as silent movie screenings and Iron Maiden concerts after originally being home to the Wakefield Industrial Co-operative Society.

Now, with the support of the Co-operative Enterprise Hub, a new co-operative has been registered and a community share issue launched to restore and regenerate the building and re-establish it as a major venue for entertainment and enterprise.

The ambitious scheme will cost £4.4m in total and, Unity House (Wakefield) Ltd – the newly formed co-operative enterprise – hopes to attract hundreds of members and raise the £200,000 needed to carry out initial survey and pre-construction work.

The aim is to redevelop Unity Hall – much of which has been disused for over a decade – into a workspace that mixes business with music, theatre, exhibitions and meetings. Plans include; a 650-seater venue, an 80-seater function room, 12,000 square feet of office space, 3,500 square feet of meeting space, a café on Westgate with reception, exhibition space and independent retail opportunities. It will also offer a base for the city’s entrepreneurs.

The building, which was extended in 1909, emerged as an important venue for entertainment and education for Edwardian Wakefield, showing the latest silent movies in the Main Hall.

In the early 1980s it briefly became a rock venue with acts including Eurythmics, Def Leppard, Iron Maiden and The Specials performing in the city.

The Co-operative Group, the UK’s largest member-owned organisation with six million members, is at the forefront of the resurgence of the co-operative business model, which is growing.

The group has committed an additional £6m between 2012-14 to develop the Co-operative Enterprise Hub service which offers free advice and guidance and has supported the creation and growth of over 700 member-owned enterprises since it was launched in 2009.

Michael Fairclough, the Co-operative Group’s head of community and co-operative investment, said: “The co-operative business model has been described as an old solution to a modern problem. Fundamentally, it gives people a voice, a say in how services are delivered.

“The model is being increasingly adopted and is a robust approach to enterprise that is contributing to the re-building of a more balanced and sustainable economy.”

Chris Hill, a founding director of the co-operative behind the Wakefield plans, said: “Co-operation is all about working together to make things happen for the benefit of its members and society and it is our aim to develop a creative space that the community can call their own and be proud of. We are particularly excited that, during this International Year of Co-operatives, it is a community co-operative that is reinvigorating this former HQ of the Wakefield Industrial Co-operative Society.

“By restoring Unity Hall to its former glory we can develop a vital new hub for the city. The regeneration work aspires to give Wakefield a nationally acknowledged music, theatre and arts venue, a thriving conference centre and provide a hotbed for new business innovation.”

Membership in Unity House (Wakefield) Ltd starts from as little as £200 with the maximum investment capped at £20,000.

A dividend of around six per cent per annum is planned after three years of trading and members will also be celebrated in a piece of public art within the building. Other benefits include priority booking and event information.

The current share issue closes on May 18.

To download a copy of the prospectus visit www.unityhallwakefield.co.uk