The Coventry Labourers' and Artizans' Co-operative was a co-operative of Coventry working men that leased land in the city for growing food. It was established by

Charles Bray Charles Bray (31 January 1811 – 5 October 1884) was a prosperous British ribbon manufacturer, social reformer, philanthropist, philosopher, and phrenologist. Life Bray was born in 1811 and his education included time in the school run by ...

and

Joseph Cash Cash's, or J. & J. Cash Ltd., is a company in Coventry, England, founded in 1846, that manufactures woven name tapes and other woven products and is known for formerly making Ribbon#Cloth ribbon, ribbons. Foundation The company was founded b ...

in 1843, as a result of a lecture in St Mary's Hall by James Orange of Nottingham, agent of the London Labourers' Friend Society. Its first aim was "to furnish working men with gardens, as healthy occupations, and to help them to counteract in part the ill-effects of confinement at the loom." It leased land on four sites, sufficient for 400 gardens, and had about 1,000 members, each of whom paid a penny a week towards the expenses of the Society, which enabled it to make loans to members, trade in coal, rent a flour mill, open a shop and pay interest to members on their shares. The Society was "wrecked" by its readiness to grant credit to its members. When Coventry's ribbon industry went into a steep decline in 1859 many of the Society's members were unable to pay their debts and about 1862 it collapsed. A new society, called the Garden Society, was formed, which survives to this day, as the Park Gardens or

Stoney Road Allotments Stoney Road Allotments consists of 123 council-owned allotments covering around 5 hectares just south of Coventry city centre. They were created in the mid 19th century as pleasure-gardens for the people of the city, and were Grade II* listed ...

in Stoney Road, Coventry.{{Cite web, title=Early Allotments and Town Gardens in Coventry, url=https://www.ourwarwickshire.org.uk/content/article/early-allotments-town-gardens-coventry, access-date=2021-05-11, website=Our Warwickshire, language=en

References

Organisations based in Coventry Gardens in the West Midlands (county) Cooperatives