Thorne gets brewing with help from the Phone Co-Op
23rd July 2008
A new brewery in South Yorkshire has become the first beneficiary of The Phone Co-op Social Enterprise Start-Up and Expansion Fund.
Thorne Brewery, a community interest company, has been set up to bring brewing back to Thorne and will create employment and training opportunities for local people by trading as a real ale brewery and visitor centre. The new brewery expects to be producing Thorne Best Bitter, its flagship ale, by October.
The Phone Co-op’s fund was launched earlier this year to support social enterprises at critical stages in their development and is providing the brewery with a grant of £250 towards the cost of phone calls, line rental and broadband.
Mark Burton, chief executive of Thorne Brewery, commented, “We are keen to source supplies and services from other social enterprises wherever possible and The Phone Co-op is exactly the type of organisation we wish to work with.”
The Fund offers credits to social enterprises on their Phone Co-op bills, which can be used to pay for any telecoms products or services provided by The Phone Co-op. These include fixed line and mobile telecoms, broadband, web hosting, and phone systems. To be eligible for the credits, the social enterprises must be new customers of The Phone Co-op, or be taking additional services as a result of expansion, and must agree to use The Phone Co-op’s services for two years.
Thorne Brewery will shortly be selling 1,000 shares of £100 each to help finance the business in its early stages. The share issue is believed to be unique as dividends will be paid in beer – for more information, visit www.thornebrewery.com
Notes to editors:
The Phone Co-op is the UK’s only telecommunications co-operative, procuring telecommunications services on behalf of its customers, many of whom are co-operatives, charities and other not-for-profit organisations. The Phone Co-op’s service has been taken up by over 15,000 customers, including Christian Aid, Amnesty International, Triodos Bank, the Centre for Alternative Technology, Salford City Council and Unison. The Phone Co-op was voted runner-up in the 2007 Fixed Service Provider of the Year awards organised by the Federation of Communication Services. As a co-operative owned by its customer members, The Phone Co-op distributes any profits which are not re-invested back to members via a dividend based on each member’s spend and through a loan fund which supports other co-operatives.
For more information, visit www.thephone.coop
For further press information, contact:
Claire Jarvis
Tel: 0845 458 9000
Mobile: 07773 845568
Email: claire@thephone.coop
