Anglia Regional Co-operative Society
former co-operative retailer in the UK
Anglia Regional Co-operative Society Limited was the fifth largest consumer co-operative in the United Kingdom. It was formed by the merger of the Greater Peterborough Regional and Anglia (formerly Waveney) co-operative societies in 1987. The Society had over 80 stores, principally trading in East Anglia. Head office was located at Westgate House, Peterborough until 2011.
The Society was a registered Industrial and Provident Society, a member of the Co-operative Union, the Co-operative Retail Trading Group and a corporate member of The Co-operative Group (formerly Co-operative Wholesale Society), the largest consumer co-operative in the world.
On 19 September 2013, it was announced that the boards of Anglia Co-operative Society and Midlands Co-operative Society had agreed merger terms. Approved by members on 4 and 18 November, legal completion of the merger took place on 1 December, with the Society transferring engagements to Midlands Co-operative. On 15 January 2014, members of the merged society approved a change of name to Central England Co-operative effective from 25 January 2014.
Trading
Under its rules, "The objects of the Society [were] to carry on the business of a store-keeper, general dealer and universal provider in all its branches, and in particular to buy, sell, manufacture, produce, grow, cultivate and deal in goods, stores, consumable articles, chattels and effects of all kinds, both wholesale and retail and generally to engage in any business, trade or industry which may seem to the Society directly or indirectly conducive to the interests or convenience of the Society's members or any section thereof". In addition, the aims stated, "The Society shall at all times conduct its business and affairs in accordance with the Rochdale Principles of Co-operation, as published from time to time by the International Co-operative Alliance, serving the needs of its customers, employees and the communities in which it trades".
The public source identifies “Anglia Regional Co-operative Society” as former co-operative retailer in the UK. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Anglia, Regional and Co-operative.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 11, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4763414. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1987, 2011, 2013 and 2014.
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This entry incorporates text from “Anglia Regional Co-operative Society” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.