Radical bookshop 'Buys the Bank'

Aim

Support us today to keep October Books, Southampton's radical bookshop, on your High Street

October Books is in the process of  buying an old bank building which is large enough for our retail space and a community hub on the ground floor.  We are doing this to secure the long term future of the shop by establishing a permanent base, where we are not paying  rent to a distant landlord. We also want to increase our connection to our local community and so the space we are buying is large enough to house the retail space as well a large, accessible space for events, meetings, therapy space and more, the Community Hub.

For the project we need to raise a total of £510k.  As of today (14th May) we have raised over £200,000!! This is absolutely awesome!! Another £150,000 is coming from a loan which has been applied for, so we have only £160,000 to go. 

The £510,000 will enable us to buy and fit out the new premises and get us set up for the future and create a new Community Hub where creative ideas can flourish. We need this money to be pledged to us by midnight on the 31st May and to be in our bank account by midnight on the 30th June. This timeframe has shifted as the project has taken shape and is now our confirmed timeline.

We're raising this money in three ways

• By getting a loan from a specialist co-operative lender of £150k
• By offering repayable loanstock for sale to the value of £340k 
• By asking supporters for non-repayable donations  to the value of £20k

Loanstock is a way that co-operatives raise finance and is an investment in the shop and Community Hub.  We are 50% of the way to our Loanstock target already (26/04/18). You invest a sum of your choosing for a period of 1, 5 or 10 years, and then when the loanstock matures, you receive the money back with optional 1.5% interest. For more information and the forms, click here.

The non-repayable donations can be made here through this Crowdfunder site or you can donate by cash, card or cheque in the shop, by bank transfer, or via paypal. Our bank details can be found at the end of the loanstock form. 

Donations will help towards building plans, design and renovations in the new space so we will keep you updated with pictures and stories of how the space is developing. It's an exciting time for a bookshop which has been serving our community for over 40 years. If you would like to help out you can always volunteer with us or if you would like to be more involved in decision making you can become a member of the co-operative. Do just let us know if you would like to help financially in ways other than Crowdfunding [email protected] . Together we can do this!

This project successfully funded on 31st May 2018