The Barnsley British Co-operative Society Ltd - Mens Wear dept, Market Street
Barnsley British Co-operative Society (BBCS) was founded in August 1861 as a result of being heavily influenced by the philosophy of a founding member named George Adcroft. Adcroft had moved from Lancashire to work at the Oaks Colliery in Barnsley. He had previously been a member of the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers which was established in 1844. The Rochdale society was one of the first co-operatives to pay a dividend ‘divi’ to its members and many of its objectives around trading were used as a basis for new co-operatives across the country. The first store in Barnsley was opened in March 1862 at 16 Market Street and the first district store opened in Dodworth in 1863. By the end of the century the majority of outlying districts had a grocery branch and the society’s principle for being self-sufficient meant that a number of production plants had opened, including a flour mill, bakery, abattoir and tin can factory. In 1950 the society opened its first self-service grocery store at New Lodge, which paved the way for a number of other store conversions over the next two decades. By the 1960s other departments of the society included butchery, restaurant, clothing, jewellery, optical, travel agency and decorating. However, by the early 1970s the society began to contract; it started to close smaller grocery stores which weren’t profitable or suitable for self-service and in 1971 merged with another society, Co-operative Retail Services (CRS). The name ‘Barnsley British Co-operative Society’ subsequently disappeared from the high street
Size: 5196px × 2892px
Location: Toad Lane, Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England, UK OL12 0NU
Photo credit: © Tony Smith / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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