Save The Exchange for Stroud
Summary
The Exchange, the popular community hub and co-working space in Stroud town centre, will soon be available for community ownership as part of an exciting opportunity for investors. The Exchange Community Share Offer will be launched at a special event at The Exchange on Saturday, June 20, starting at 11am.
Details
Since 2007, The Exchange on Brick Row has been home to many small businesses, charities, community organisations and social groups. Good on Paper, Allsorts, Timebanking UK, and Shift Environmental are just a few of the successful organisations who started life or grew up here. The stone building, once a Victorian girls’ school, is managed by Stroud Common Wealth Community Benefit Society Limited (SCW).
It offers hot desks and shared workspaces, as well as rooms for meetings and workshops and a peaceful garden area. SCW now wants to raise £350,000 from the share offer and other sources to buy the building from the private landlord before the lease expires in July 2027. Aurelia St Clair, the hub’s manager , said: “The Exchange is thriving as a business.
We’ve paid off debts incurred during its conversion to its current use, and we generate a surplus every year to maintain the building and its facilities.
“We know The Exchange works as a business and a resource for the people of Stroud, because our workspaces are almost always full and our meeting rooms are in constant demand for all kinds of gatherings, from job clubs to crafts groups, from young people’s Dungeons & Dragons sessions to Quaker meetings.
“We now want to buy the freehold as a community venture, so we can guarantee we’ll be here to support local businesses and community groups long into the future.” This isn’t the first time SCW has raised money for The Exchange. In 2007, the society raised over £300,000 to refurbish the building and make it one of the few fully wheelchair accessible venues in Stroud.
It was one of the first buildings in the area to install a ground-source heat pump, together with photovoltaics for hot water and solar panels for generating electricity. The building was opened by HRH Princess Royal in 2007, and the Princess, who lives near Stroud, has sent her very best wishes for SCW’s efforts and for its continued success, hopefully visiting again should the campaign prove successful .
Individuals or groups can invest a minimum of £500 in community shares and SCW welcomes donations of any amount – as a registered charity, SCW can claim Gift Aid to boost donations. SCW director Mustafa Sami said: “Our challenge is to turn any notion of ‘bye-bye’ into ‘lets’ buy’!
Report source: Punchline Gloucester