Lancaster Music Co‑op: The fight to save a much-loved creative space

Lancaster Music Co‑op has been a rehearsal and recording space beloved by local musicians for nearly 40 years. 

Established in 1985 by a group of Lancaster University students who needed somewhere to rehearse, it has been at the heart of the local music scene ever since.

“For around 20 years since the early 1990s, Directors Mick Armistead, David Blackwell and Ian Dicken did a great job of running the co-op through challenging times, as things were constantly changing politically, economically and socially,” said musician and co‑op member Jack Carney.

In 2003, the area where the co‑op is located was earmarked for redevelopment by the local council, a situation that lasted for 15 years! With an uncertain future during this time, they held off on repairing the building, which eventually became run down. 

“It fell into a state of disrepair. The roof was leaking. It was falling to pieces and not workable for local musicians. It was a place of affection amongst local creatives, with a long track record of turning out some great groups – but it had seen better days.” 

When Lancaster’s Canal Quarter redevelopment eventually got the go-head, the co-op was served with an eviction notice. So the city’s creative community rallied together. A petition to save the co-op was signed by around 8,000 people and the matter was brought to the council.

During a council meeting in November 2018, councillors voted unanimously to save the co‑op, repair the building, issue a long‑term lease and protect its future.

“We used this as an opportunity to engage with them about the co‑op and its place in the regeneration of the city,” said Jack. “We needed to look at the future direction of the co‑op and revise its constitution, funding and financial arrangements. 

“I was looking at our constitutional arrangements and product design. In the past, the co‑op had mainly been a place to offer rehearsal space to upcoming bands and we began looking at how we could expand what we offer.”

Whilst exploring sources of funding for refurbishing the building, Jack and the board enlisted the help of the Business Support for Co‑ops programme delivered by Co‑operatives UK and supported by The Co‑operative Bank. 

“Dave Hollings and Gareth Nash were our co‑op advisors via the programme,” said Jack. “In the first instance, it was a real opportunity to get some professional advice as a co‑op and check we were doing the right thing. 

“Dave and Gareth helped us explore crowdfunding and community share offers. They became members of the board and came to meetings. They reassured us we were doing the right things but needed to tweak things here and there. 

“Dave helped the co‑op set up 30 years ago. I’d done a lot of the groundwork on the new constitution, which he checked over and added his expertise.  

“They had a nice style of working that wasn’t prescriptive. They were encouraging, supportive and when we needed them to help us write something, they would. 

To move the organisation forward, the board decided they needed to enrich the social value of the co‑op and what it could do to put back into the local community. 

“We looked at things like GP referrals for health and wellbeing, promoting digital inclusion by providing access to technology and offering placements to the local community and those from disadvantaged backgrounds,” said Jack. 

“Dave and Gareth helped us prepare our social value statement. They had lots of advice and a wealth of knowledge and experience of how other co‑ops had achieved this.

With big ambitions to expand the co‑op, the team produced a 120‑page business plan. “It had to be really detailed to satisfy the council lawyers, bank, regeneration officers and ourselves,” said Jack.

“They supported us in creating such a huge document. Gareth helped with working out the figures for our three-year financial projections. He was really good on all that. We couldn’t have done that without them.” 

Working with local building firm Ducketts and Project Manager Anthony Dicken, Lancaster Music Co‑op is in the process of making the building watertight. It now has a sound business plan and organisational structures in place – ready for when works are complete.

“We are near the end of phase one – to make the building watertight and are now working on designs for the internal rehearsal rooms and recording studio,” said musician and co‑op Director Holly Ross. 

“We’ve recently worked with year two students at Lancaster University’s Architecture Department to come up with ideas for the renovations. 

“Alongside this, we’re developing what services we will offer outside of our core offering of rehearsal rooms and recording studio. Our aim is to be open by Spring 2025.

“We have also launched a new monthly night at local live music venue The Pub, which showcases local bands in a bid to bring the music co‑op community together while the building is being refurbished.” 

“We’re looking forward to the re-opening of the building,” added Jack, “and welcoming back local musicians and the local community.” 

Find out more 

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