Call for a charity shop on Coronation Street
Howard Lake | 31 January 2018 | News
A campaign is underway to persuade ITV to add a charity shop to Coronation Street. The street in fictional Weatherfield must be one of the few main streets in the UK not to have a charity shop.
The campaign is the idea of Manchester-based Jayne Cartwright, founder of the Charity Retail Consultancy, which has advised and supported charity retailers for 25 years. She was inspired by the announcement that ITV had agreed partnerships with Costa Coffee and Co-op to appear on Coronation Street. Viewers will see Co-op and Costa Coffee storefronts as part of a new extended Weatherfield set, joining the other shops and businesses in and around Coronation Street.
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Both facades will be fully branded and open for business in Spring 2018 with other assets such as posters, bags and cups integrated across the soap.
The new agreements also include digital and brand-licensing aspects for both brands, enabling them to use Coronation Street assets and extend the partnership off-air.
Coronation Street charity?
Cartwright suggested the addition of a charity shop in a tweet to ITV:
The shop with its volunteers and customers would offer new opportunities for the TV soap’s writers and bring home the value of local charity shops to a nationwide audience.
Cartwright explained: “Charity retail staff and 230,000 volunteers work so hard to raise income. A charity shop on Corrie would be a brilliant way to show its millions of viewers the commitment and love they have for their shops & customers, as well as the fun they all have!”
Collaborating with corporate and retail fundraising consultant John Thompson, who created the successful #FirstFiver campaign in 2016 which raised an estimated £12.5 million, she then posted a Twitter vote.
She knows her Corrie history, recalling that there was a temporary charity shop in 1990:
Which charity shop?
If ITV does see the sense in adding a charity shop, there is the question of which charity should be selected.
Various ideas have been suggested:
- a local North West England charity
- it could then become an annual or regular pitch so that other charities could in turn share the benefits
- the pitch could involve a viewers’ vote, perhaps with a premium line generating donations for the shortlisted charities
- the Co-op and Costa Coffee could be invited to support the initiative
One local charity joined in the conversation promptly last night:
Jayne Cartwright added some more thoughts, as she shared the idea with national and regional news organisations last night:
John Thompson told UK Fundraising:
“For many years Corrie has been a regular part of millions of viewers’ lives, an institution that reflects the ever changing social, cultural and economic issues of our time. Our high streets also reflect these and it would be apt that a charity shop took a rightful slot alongside a Co-op and a Costa thus reflecting the true reality of co-existing commercial and not-for-profit retail in our towns across the UK.”
- Four charities to benefit from Coronation Street’s 50th anniversary (30 March 2010)
- Coronation Street actress is new patron of Albert Kennedy Trust (9 March 2004)
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.