The Elizabeth Bradford Business Centre
The Colehill building was opened as the official flagship store of the Tamworth Co-operative Society in 1897, coinciding with Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. The Society was founded in 1886 by the Revd William MacGregor and had outgrown various smaller premises around the town. It traded from the site with a retail store for over 120 years.
The site was purchased by Tamworth Borough Council in 2022 as part of a multi-million pound regeneration project to transform the town centre.
To celebrate its rich heritage, the new business centre has been named after Elizabeth Bradford, who was the first employee of Tamworth Co-operative Society when it opened for trading on December 10, 1886. She was paid nine shillings for a 70-hour week.
Tamworth is home to a thriving community of entrepreneurs and small businesses, who desperately needed more space to grow.
The nearby Tamworth Enterprise Centre – which was created by the council in 2017 to provide affordable offices for start-ups and SMEs – has been fully occupied since the day it opened.
Elizabeth Bradford Business Centre was therefore created to provide another serviced office facility, with slightly larger rooms, to help businesses continue on their journey of growth.
During the renovations, the council uncovered several stunning original features which have been lovingly restored to create a space which serves the needs of a modern business, within a truly unique building.
These include a heritage staircase with decorative 3D tiles and balustrades, parquet flooring, cornicing, exposed brickwork, stained glass windows, wooden beams and arches and large safes. Many of these had been covered up for many years.
The original features continue on the outside, topped off by the beautiful cupola at the building’s peak, which has also been sympathetically renovated.