Penrith Co-operative Society

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**Penrith Co-operative Society Ltd**

Type	Consumer Co-operative, Limited company
Founded	1890
Headquarters	Penrith, UK
Area served	Cumbria and County Durham
Industry	Retail (Grocery), Department Store
Website	www.penrithco-op.co.uk

The Penrith Co-operative Society Limited, or simply Penrith Co-op, is a small regional consumer co-operative in the United Kingdom. The Society was formed in 1890 and today operates one department store with supermarket attached and eight small supermarkets or convenience stores in Cumbria and County Durham.

When most other Co-ops in Cumbria merged into regional groups in the 1960s and 1970s, such as the Cumbrian Society and the Greater Lancastria Society (now both part of The Co-operative Group), the Penrith society remained independent and has since taken over other small societies. These included the Keswick Co-operative Society in 1969; the Lazonby & District Co-operative Society in 1990; the Naworth Collieries Co-operative Society in 1993 which had branches in the small north Pennine villages of Hallbankgate and Halton-Lea-Gate and finally in the 1990s the Stanhope & Weardale Industrial Co-operative Society.

The Society is a member of the Co-operative Retail Trading Group (CRTG) and sells The Co-operative brand products. It is also a corporate member of the Co-operative Group.

The Penrith Co-op was featured on the national BBC programme Working Lunch for its support of the Melmerby village store set up by residents.^[1]

1 Operational locations
2 References
3 External links

[edit] Operational locations

[edit] Head Office, department store and supermarket

19 Burrowgate, Penrith

Departments: grocery, butchery, bakery, health and beauty, electronics, toys, hardware, beds, furniture and branch of the Co-operative Bank.

[edit] Branches

Keswick Foodstore & Electrical Store, St James Court, Keswick, Cumbria
Lazonby Foodstore and Post Office, Lazonby, Cumbria
Shap Supermarket, Main Street, Shap Cumbria
Hallbankgate Foodstore and Post Office, Hallbankgate, Cumbria
Stanhope Foodstore, Off Licence and Handybank, Front Street, Stanhope, County Durham
St Johns Chapel Foodstore, Market Place, St John's Chapel, County Durham
Wearhead Foodstore, Front Street, Wearhead, County Durham
Westgate Foodstore, Front Street, Westgate, County Durham
Frosterley Foodstore & Post Office, Front Street, Frosterley, County Durham

[edit] Former branches

Castlegate, Penrith (the society's original store)
Castletown, Penrith (closed c.1970)
Halton Lea Gate
Scotland Road, Townhead, Penrith (closed c.1970)
Penrith Pharmacy, (became part of department store in 1980s and later closed)
Glenridding
Shap No2 and No 5

United Co-operatives in 2005 bought a pharmacy shop in Penrith which is now trading as Co-op Pharmacy. However, this shop has no connection with Penrith Co-op's operations and since United have merged with the Co-operative Group it now forms part of the Co-operative Group Pharmacy division.