The Minories; Colchester’s oldest gallery, is now home to The Commons; Colchester’s first cooperative Café.

In 2023, members of the local community came together to form a new community cooperative; ‘Common Ground Colchester’ was created with the task of launching a brand new café & community kitchen. Since October 2023, The Commons at The Minories is proud to be serving the community from our historical hub at the heart of the city centre.

If you’re visiting from out of town - you’ll find everything you would expect from a quality café... we only serve the finest barista coffee, our in-house bakers make famous cakes, perfect loaves & irresistible scones served with locally made chutneys & jams. We are proud to support local organic growers which is why we have partnered with Bennison Farm - our local community supported agricultural farm who supply us with our weekly produce for creating seasonal menus & daily specials. We have seasonal fruit from Crapes Fruit Farm, local apple juice from Dodnash Fruit Farm & shelves stacked with all kinds of creations from local artists, makers & artisans - the cups you drink from & the bowls we serve our specials in… they’re made by local artists too!

If you live or work in Colchester & are interested in joining the cooperative via our open-membership (114 members - Jan 2024), see the Membership page for more information.

Photos & website by @mind.of.marley