Co-operative College

The Co-operative College was established in 1919

by the Co-operative Union with ten overseas students based on the second floor of Holyoake House, Manchester, and in 1943 the College became a charitable trust.

In 1940, Holyoake House was damaged in the Manchester Blitz, and in 1946 the Co-operative College relocated to Stanford Hall, near Loughborough, where it spent almost fifty years. Along the years that the College spent in Stanford, it ran residential courses in social/economic subjects for adult learners and a wide range of retail and management courses for co-operative employees.

The College then operated as a remote working organisation, but retained an office in its original home at Holyoake House.