A WORKER-OWNED pub in Winsford will channel all its profits into staff’s pockets and important community projects.
Staff at The Gate on Delamere Street held their first ‘board meeting’ as the pub’s owners on Tuesday, September 22, electing each other to a variety of responsible roles.
The Gate is a prototype for a new ownership model designed by Cornerstone Inns CIC, whose director, Damon Horrill, believes it is the right way to protect vital community assets, such as pubs, from greedy faceless corporations.
Under the model, pubs’ bricks and mortar assets would be owned by a locally controlled community interest company (CIC), meaning they can never be sold to property developers, breweries, or pub chains.
Individual pub teams pay a maximum of eight per of turnover in rent for the building to its CIC, which can be reduced to three percent when any property loans used to buy it is paid off.
75 per cent of surplus profits are available as bonuses for staff, who are also paid above current market rates, up to a maximum of £3,600 a year per person, tax free.
The other 25 per cent goes to fund vital community projects by way of grants, administered by local people.
Perhaps most exciting of all, operating decisions about what’s best for the pub, including what food and drink to sell, what entertainment to book, and promotion and marketing are all taken by the staff.
Decisions are taking sociocratically, a governance system designed to give equal weight to the views of staff, while guaranteeing transparency, and ensuring things are done in a timely way.
Damon said: “We exist to prove pubs can thrive without corporate landlords extracting profit, returning autonomy, wealth, and dignity to the workers.
“Most pub jobs feel the same.
“You work hard under intense pressure, deal with last-minute rotas, watch a distant manager make bad decisions, and earn minimum wage while profits are shipped off to private investors or corporate landlords.
“We built this co-operative to eliminate that experience.
“When you step onto the floor at a Cornerstone Co-op pub, you are not an employee in a corporate hierarchy.
“You are a co-owner in development.”
Another positive of the model is pubs working under the Cornerstone model will have access to group buying power, meaning potential discounts.
They are also not tied to any particular brewery so they can sell what they want, giving them the flexibility to use local businesses and buy local products.
Damon said the meeting on September 22 proved workers are more than capable when it comes making good decisions.
He added: "For years, I have heard the same pushback from the corporate industry about pub workers.
“Last night, our team proved them wrong.
“From formal check-ins and check-outs, to working in rounds and mastering consent-based decision-making, the team embraced the architecture flawlessly.
“They don't just show up to work—they step up to lead."
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