Cotherstone residents transform Old Chapel into thriving community business

Residents in a County Durham village, who had seen their only shop and post office close five years ago, have worked together to set up a new community owned business at the old Methodist chapel.

The Cotherstone Old Chapel Project has transformed the chapel into a community hub, providing both residents and tourists with a place to meet, chat, buy groceries and eat.

More than 1,000 cups of coffee, 600 pots of tea, 500 breakfast buns and countless slices of homemade cake have been served in a community-run shop, café and heritage centre in its first month.

One resident told ITV News Tyne Tees: "It’s been a great pleasure for bringing the community together.

"It’s just a great venue for locals to meet and to bring friends and family."

Another said: "It’s fantastic, it’s just having somewhere to meet, somewhere to chat to different people and it’s really good coffee."

A tourist said: "I think if buildings aren’t going to be used and what have you, it makes sense to kind of have it utilised and it brings a lot of joy and funding to the village really."

The project has provided jobs for 12 local young people, served more than 2,500 customers, raised £300 for local causes by selling ice creams and provided more than 200 hours of volunteering opportunities since it opened in June.

Chris Tarpey, from the Project, said they wanted to maintain the aesthetic feel of the chapel, building on the heritage of the village.

He said: "We kept the organ, the stained glass windows and a lot of the original features. Most people in the village have got some connection with the chapel.

"To be able to keep it as part of the community, has been great and a driving force for the project."

According to Plunkett UK, a charity that supports rural communities in starting businesses, £55m has been invested in starting up 787 community owned businesses across the UK, including 32 that opened just last year.

The Old Chapel opened this summer, following years of hard work and fundraising by the community, which raised £150,000 towards the project.

This was boosted by a £120,000 grant from Durham County Council’s Towns and Villages Community Resilience Fund; £40,000 from Teesdale Area Action Partnership’s Towns and Villages Fund; and a total of £20,000 from Cllr Richard Bell and Cllr Ted Henderson’s neighbourhood budgets.

Deputy Leader of Durham County Council, Cllr Richard Bell, said: "People thought, what do we actually need? The shop is closed. The chapel is closed.

"We need a place where people can meet, socialise, buy the basic groceries and have an asset that brings the community together and it think it’s been great the way people have recognised that, and rather than just moan about the loss of something, they’ve actually got up and done something about it."