Pink Lane Jazz Co-op

(By Dave Parker)

A group of local residents, jazz lovers, musicians, poets and others are forming a community co-operative with the aim of running Newcastle’s iconic Jazz Cafe, which closed following the untimely death of the proprietor Keith Crombie on 29 December 2012.

We plan to preserve the commitment to live jazz and poetry and the unique ambience of the venue established over the last 20 years.  We believe that with a sound business plan and the goodwill of the many people who admired the Jazz Cafe, the new co-operative will be able to attract the members and investment needed to succeed.

Our first objective is to negotiate with the landlord and any relevant authorities to re-open the Jazz Cafe as soon as possible.  This would be a temporary arrangement to keep interest in the venue alive while the co-op developed plans for the long-term sustainability of the venture.

The next objective would be to draw up a detailed prospectus and raise investment by selling shares.  The shareholders will be members of the co-op but each member will only have one vote regardless of the size of their investment.

This community co-operative model has proved to be very effective at attracting members, finance and publicity for many different enterprises in recent years including village shops and pubs, football clubs and renewable energy projects.

If you are interested there are various ways you can get involved:

1  We need a few committed people to be part of the initial management group that will be negotiating with the landlord, registering the co-operative, opening a bank account, dealing with the local authorities and all the other things that will need to be done to get the Jazz Cafe re-opened.

2  When we get agreement to re-open the Jazz Cafe we will need lots of volunteers to help with running it – cleaning, serving, performing, promoting etc.

3  When developing the business plan and share prospectus we will need people with various business and professional skills including finance, marketing, legal, venue management, etc.

4  We will welcome all ideas and suggestions for improving the long-term sustainability of the Jazz Cafe. 

5  We will be holding some meetings to promote the co-op, and we will want as many people as possible to attend.

6  When shares go on sale we’ll want people to buy them and to encourage all their friends to buy them too, and we’ll want help publicising the share issue.

7  Once we’ve reached our investment target we can proceed with implementing the business plan and building a long-term sustainable enterprise.  There will be so many ways you can be involved.  Once you are a member, it’s your business.

So if you are interested please email me at pinklanejazzcoop@gmail.com and say how you’d like to be involved.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Dave Parker