In 1985 the residents of New Lanark tried to form a cooperative to operate a small cafe for visitors. The cafe would have been in the two-storey building next to the Wildlife Trust premises. At the time the village did not have any catering facilities for visitors.
The scheme had the backing of fifty-nine residents and funding from Strathclyde Community Business. It would have created ten part time jobs and been under the control of the village community. It would also have created a healthy annual surplus for community projects.
The only suitable property [like almost all land and buildings in the village] is controlled by the New Lanark Conservation Trust and they refused to give a lease.
The scheme therefor failed.
The following article appeared in the Glasgow Herald on the 24th January 1985.
The article quoted Harry Smith saying the Trust would open a restaurant on the same common good basis as the cooperative. It certainly opened a restaurant but as a commercial operation with its profits going to the Trust. There was no “common good” element.
Scotland Direct did not open a “gourmet restaurant” and the company left the village years ago when it got cheaper premises elsewhere.
In 1993 the Trust was host to the Cooperative Movement on International CO-OP Day and a smirking Jim Arnold made much of New Lanark’s role in the founding of the cooperative movement.
No comments:
Post a Comment
To make an anonymous posting just click on the drop down list to the right of 'Comment As' and select the third option.
Comments will appear after moderation to remove spam, defamatory comments and anything that is off topic.