Community business case studies
Read about some of the community businesses we’ve supported and how they’re building stronger, more resilient local communities.
Pollenize
Pollenize uses the power of community and science to fight against pollinator decline.
Banister House Solar
Residents of Banister House turned disillusion into the UK’s largest community-owned solar energy project on social housing.
Huyton Juniors
Having successfully established a community football club for young people on disused parkland, Huyton Juniors then turned its attention to regenerating the space into a permanent community asset.
Glamis Hall
In 2014, Wellingborough Council decided it couldn’t afford to keep a day centre for the elderly open so residents, left reeling by its closure, stepped up and took it on.
Socco Cheta Hub
A new hub in South Norwood will bring together a diverse and vibrant neighbourhood where inequality and a lack of cohesion is threatening to splinter the community.
Hale Community Centre
Once a school caretaker’s bungalow, Hale Community Centre now takes care of a whole community often overlooked in an otherwise prosperous town.
Digital skills: Whitley Bay Big Local
Over the last year, Whitley Bay Big Local has changed how it has done many things. It’s organised itself differently. It’s changed how staff and members communicate.
Digital skills: Chilli Studios
Chilli Studios wants to get closer to its members, and it is implementing a series of digital innovations to help it do just that.
Digital skills: Queen’s Mill
Like many other organisations, the team from Queen’s Mill in Castleford has been wrestling with the question of how to reach the whole of the community.
Digital skills: Myatt’s Fields Park
Myatt’s Fields Park in south London is one of the smallest parks in the city. But you wouldn’t know it from the diversity of activity taking place.
Digital skills: Fordhall Farm
Fordhall Farm has found the last year easier than some other community businesses. Its activities are outdoor, and many have been less affected by lockdown. As a result, people have flocked to enjoy what it has to offer.
Real Ideas
Real Ideas is many things: social enterprise; catalyst; anchor and enabler, but at its simplest it’s an organisation providing support and space to people in communities with good ideas.
FC United of Manchester
When FC United set up as a supporter-owned football club, they weren’t to know how rewarding their role in the community would come to be.
AFC Lewisham
When a mother’s 13-year-old son was turned away by local football clubs, she decided to take matters into her own hands and set one up herself.
Nudge Community Builders
When traditional regeneration initiatives failed to deliver, residents decided to nudge their main street back to life, one building at a time.