Your Co-op Travel parent, Midcounties Co-operative, has agreed to merge with Central Co-op to create the UK’s largest independent co-operative society.
With more than one million members and 13,000 employees, its footprint will stretch from Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Wiltshire and Bedfordshire in the south and west, across the Midlands, Staffordshire and Northamptonshire, to Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Yorkshire in the north, Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk in the east.
The legal completion is expected to conclude in January 2026. In the next few days, members will vote on a new legal name for the Society, although Central, Midcounties and Chelmsford Star sites and stores will continue to trade under their existing brands. Chelmsford Star stores transferred to Central earlier this year.
The merger is not expected to lead to any changes for Midcounties’ travel business, which took over 16 of Central’s travel branches in 2020, while the remaining eight Central branches were closed.
Phil Ponsonby, Midcounties Co-operative CEO, said: “The combined strengths of our new Society will allow us to navigate through challenging economic headwinds and invest for the future from a position of strength.
“As co-operators we know we can achieve more together, and we look forward to working with our members, colleagues and partners to create a new Society that builds on our shared heritage and delivers real change.”
