Cooperative store may consider its Northampton location if site becomes ‘ghost town’ after Workbridge closure
John Clarke says the Daily Bread Cooperative found out about the Workbridge Closure at the same time as everyone else
By Sarah Ward
A worker cooperative whole foods store in Northampton says it will now have to consider a move after St Andrew’s Healthcare decided to close Workbridge.
Daily Bread has been running from the Workbridge site off Bedford Road in Northampton since 1980 and says it only found out about the learning centre’s closure yesterday ‘at the same time as everybody else’.
St Andrew’s Healthcare, which runs Workbridge, dropped the bombshell yesterday that the centre, which provides training and activities for people with learning and mental health difficulties, will close shortly.
Staff were told on Tuesday that they would be made redundant and the charity has said it is facing severe financial difficulties and can no longer continue running the service. The day centre plus the cafe, garden centre, creative studio and charity shop will all close.
The Care Quality Commission placed the mental health charity into special measures in October and in July it placed an order preventing new patients being admitted for care. An inspection had found several major failings and breaches of the care act. The future of the entire St Andrew’s Healthcare operation is now under threat according to deputy chief executive Dr Sanjith Kamath.
John Clarke from Daily Bread, said he is ‘devastated for the Workbridge community’ and said the health foods cooperative will now have to decide what happens.
He said:
“We have the option to stay on the site, however we have got to have conversations with St Andrews about that.
“We may consider that it is time for us to move because essentially, it will become a ghost town down here and it will be just us on site. So we have got to make a decision about our long term future. Whether that is to stay on site or up sticks and move.
“Because we only discovered this news yesterday we have got a lot of hard thinking to do and decisions to make.
“We are a workers cooperative, which is owned and controlled by the people within it and obviously we have got to have a discussion among ourselves.
“This is devastating news for all the workers, service users and customers of Workbridge.’
St Andrews took over the running of Workbridge in 2009. It was founded in 1980 by jeweller Michael Jones and set up on the Bedford Road site. Daily Bread, which started off as a cooperative in West Favell, moved there a few months later.
This is very sad news for Northampton and a great loss for those who have relied on the work bridge project. It’s hard to imagine what shortcomings Workbridge has that would force its closure. I am not closely involved with the place but have always felt a great sense of a caring community whenever I visited. If it’s a question of money perhaps a local fundraising campaign could be mounted. If it’s a managerial problem, surely it can be rectified. I am bound to ask in whose interest it is to see the place shut down. Hopefully NN can look into it.
Devastating loss! My late Mum had a session in St. Andrew's that literally saved her life, more than once even, I believe. She didn't talk about those episodes much, but she was very appreciative of the care she received there. I weep for those left stranded without this vital service