“If we can make people feel like anything is possible, anything is solvable, together... We can find a way together.” - Karen Tait
Unreasonable Connection Goes Live — London, February 2026
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Karen Tait’s electricity bill has tripled in four years.
The reality of running an independent coworking space in 2025 is about to get worse.Karen founded The Residence in Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire, after years of commuting to London while affordability kept pushing her further out. She went from investment banking to building the kind of space she desperately needed: a place where small business owners could find energy, support, validation, and community—not just desks and Wi-Fi.
She knows both worlds. The City, and the country lane.
Now, a single policy change threatens to undo it all.
The UK’s business rates reclassification—specifically the stripping of Small Business Rates Relief from private offices within coworking spaces—could force operators like Karen into an impossible choice: absorb costs they can’t afford, pass them on to members who don’t deserve the hit, or close.
The same policy that strips relief from Karen’s members gives breaks to distribution warehouses on the edge of town.
This episode is part of our ongoing series on the business rates crisis, following conversations with Jane Sartin from FlexSA and Roland Stanley from Dragon Coworking.
What makes Karen’s perspective essential is what she reveals about the hidden economic engine that coworking creates.
The Residence doesn’t just provide workspace.
It provides infrastructure for 150 members who would otherwise be scattered across home offices and coffee shops. It sources everything locally—coffee beans from Saffron Walden, cleaning services, IT support, catering—all within Hertfordshire.
Every pound spent circulates through the local economy rather than vanishing into Amazon’s supply chain.
Bernie cites research from an Islington Council social value impact report: for every £1 spent with a local business, that pound circulates through the local economy four times.
When money goes to national chains, it disappears.
Bernie asks about the hidden costs of running physical space—and Karen doesn’t flinch. She’s started being more vocal about the actual running costs.
It’s eye-watering, she says.
This is a very lean business, incredibly lean.
Every price rise, every vacancy, every increase in employment costs is a strain. And now this whole threat to how rates will be applied to the building... it really could be the final blow.
The episode isn’t all grim.
Karen shares how she’s fighting back—meeting with her local MP Josh, working with Jane at FlexSA, and refusing to accept that everyone else will deal with it.
If you run an independent coworking space in the UK, this episode is essential listening.
If you use one, it’s time to understand what’s at stake.
Timeline Highlights
[00:00] Bernie sets the scene: “The value it has to the local area is way beyond desks and WiFi.”
[01:42] Karen’s origin story: “The Residence” was born out of my own selfish needs of needing a place to work.”
[02:27] The energy you can’t bottle: “A level playing field for small business owners, a place where startup dreams can happen together.”
[04:01] Location context: “We’re actually on a farm development, a little bit tucked away down a country lane, but in the middle of our housing estate.”
[06:26] Why face-to-face support matters: “Connecting with all the businesses that are in your community who perhaps can cross-pollinate.”
[08:03] The Amazon boycott: “We will not use Amazon. We will work with people in our community to supply everything that we need.”
[08:03] Cross-pollination in action: “Lighting engineers working with interior designers, small business owners working with the VAs in our space, estate agents working with the local videographer.”
[09:41] The £200 challenge: “If every single person who lived in Bishop Stortford spent £200 on their local high street, their local high street could survive.”
[11:23] The reality of rates: “Whilst building valuations are going up, the rates multiplier is coming down, which means a higher bill, bottom line.”
[12:58] The electricity shock: “My electricity bill over the four years here at Bishop Stortford has tripled in price”
[13:49] The breaking point: “It’s just being penalising the system, penalising the very people that are the backbone of this country.”
[15:39] The truth: “This is not a highly profitable business. This is a very lean business, incredibly lean.”
[17:33] Taking action: “That’s talking to our local MP, engaging with Jane at Flexer... sometimes you just have to”
[22:48] The stakes: “The Residence” as a whole has 150 members. If The Residence closes, that’s going to be 150 people that suddenly have no space.”
[25:29] The beating heart: “We gave up a lot of space at the residence for a beating heart, the big kitchen area.”
[29:28] The closing philosophy: “If we can make people feel like anything is possible, anything is solvable, together... We can find a way together.”
Karen Built The Residence Because Nothing Like It Existed
Karen describes something that sounds almost utopian until you realise it’s just thoughtful design.
Dropping children off at school. Parking outside. Going for lunch in the café. Doing a workout. All woven seamlessly around a workspace.
The Residence sits on a farm development in Bishop’s Stortford—a market town of about 40,000 people, tucked down a country lane but surrounded by a café, gym, beauticians, and other businesses.
It’s intentional infrastructure for the way modern life actually works.
This “five-minute life cycle” isn’t about luxury.
It’s about making entrepreneurship accessible to people who can’t afford to disappear on a three-hour daily commute to London.
Karen lived that commute herself. She moved from the Docklands to Epping to Bishop’s Stortford as affordability kept pushing her further out—but she was still commuting back every day.
The space she built isn’t theoretical.
It’s the answer to a problem she lived.
The Residence Banned Amazon Two Years Ago
A couple of years ago, Karen made a decision that sounds radical but shouldn’t be.
The Residence would not use Amazon.
Everything they need—food, cleaning supplies, coffee, IT support, engineering, health and safety—comes from businesses within Hertfordshire.
When you spend with local suppliers, that money stays in circulation. When you pay with national or international chains, it leaves the community immediately.
Karen’s approach is intentional. She’d love to document what it physically looks like in terms of cash, because she thinks that, without realising it, you’re having an impact on the local community by spending your money.
But you have to be intentional about that.
The cross-pollination happens daily.
Lighting engineers working with interior designers. Small business owners are working with the VAs in the space. Estate agents are working with the local videographer.
When your members’ businesses grow, they need more services. When local businesses thrive, they need workspace. The interdependence is structural.
Business Rates Are Complicated — Here’s What Actually Matters
The business rates issue is complicated, even for people who’ve been studying it.
Karen listened to Bernie’s show with Roland from Dragon Coworking and admits that business rates are complicated even for Jane and her.
But she breaks it down to its essential impact.
Building valuations are going up.
The rate multiplier is coming down.
But the result is a higher bill.
There’s also a new five-tiered system, changes to how vacant buildings are treated, and—critically for coworking—the potential loss of Small Business Rates Relief for private offices within shared workspace.
Here’s why that matters.
When a small business takes a private office within The Residency, Karen protects them from rising costs. She sets their rates for a year or two, absorbing the uncertainty so they can plan their business.
If rates on those offices suddenly spike, Karen has no good options.
The cruel irony is that if those same members had taken space directly on the high street, they’d still qualify for Small Business Rates Relief.
As Karen puts it, the policy is penalising the very people that are the backbone of this country, taking risks, employing local people, growing their businesses from little acorns into big oak trees.
They Gave Up Space For a Kitchen Because That’s Where Community Happens
Karen gave up a lot of space at The Residence for what she calls a beating heart—the big kitchen area.
People come and have their lunch. They sit on the big sofa. They talk about what’s troubling them, what’s keeping them awake at night, what they’d love help with.
Then everyone gathers around. How can we help you? Do you need more clients? Do you need some funding?
It’s a place to build authentic relationships.
Bernie shares a moment that captures something most business discussions miss entirely.
When your business is failing at 9 AM, and you’re sitting at home, it fails for the whole day.
When your business is failing at 9 AM, and you’re standing in a coworking kitchen, someone asks what’s up. You say you can’t get your website to work. Someone offers help.
By 9:15, it’s no longer failing.
Karen builds on this.
The most important thing I have control over is how I can make people feel.
If we can make people feel like anything is possible, anything is solvable, together—you’re not living in your head. You’re not talking yourself out of it. You’re not telling yourself you’re a failure.
The WhatsApp group. The kitchen conversations. The visibility of other people trying hard at similar things.
All of it counteracts the isolation that destroys both well-being and businesses.
Running a Coworking Space Costs More Than Anyone Admits
Karen has started being more vocal about what it actually costs to run The Residency.
Her word for it: eye-watering.
Every single time prices rise, employment costs rise, or there’s a vacancy, it’s a strain. A huge strain.
It’s a constant juggle between giving and supporting the very people you want to, whilst managing your books, managing your profitability, making sure you have enough money to pay the VAT and the Corporation tax.
The business model is lean by necessity, not by choice.
And that leanness means there’s no buffer for absorbing sudden policy changes or cost increases.
When Karen says the business rates change could see a lot of people hanging on by their fingertips, go “Do you know what? I’m done,”—she’s describing the maths.
Karen Contacted Her MP Within a Week — Here’s What She Learned
Karen met with her local MP, Josh, within a week of reaching out.
She brought Jane from FlexSA. They laid out the concerns clearly.
Now Josh is taking the issue to the minister and trying to raise questions in parliament. He tried to raise a question recently but wasn’t chosen, which is why the more voices the better.
Her advice for other operators is practical.
In the pack Jane created, there’s a link to find your local MP and a templated letter.
But don’t just copy and paste.
Set out your stall. Explain how this will affect you—and the people you support.
Karen explained to Josh not just the financial impact on The Residency, but also what would happen to Bishop’s Stortford if 150 members suddenly had no space to work.
Where do they go?
They go back home.
And “back home” means back to isolation, back to living in your head with problems that feel unsolvable because there’s no one to share them with.
If you live in and around Bishop’s Stortford, Karen’s door is always open. Cup of tea always ready.
That’s the northern in me, she says. You’ll always get offered a cup of tea. Slice of cake. We’re well known for cake at The Residency.
Being a nice person costs nothing.
Links and Resources
Karen Tait and The Residence
* The Residence Coworking (Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire)
* Karen Tait on LinkedIn
* The Residence Coworking on Instagram
How to Support the UK Business Rates Action
* Download - FlexSA ‘Engaging Your MP on Business Rates and Flexible Workspaces’
* Write to Your MP — Enter your postcode, get your MP’s details
* Cardtronics v Sykes [2020] UKSC 21 — The legal precedent the VOA is using
* 🎙️Why the UK Government Is About to Crush Your Coworking Space — And What to Do About It with Roland Stanley
* 🎙️ The Business Rates Crisis: What Every Workspace Operator Needs to Do Now with Jane Sartin
Projects & Community
* Join this and other conversations with people in the LinkedIn Coworking Group
* Unreasonable Connection Monthly online gatherings for Coworking Community Builders.
* Workspace Design Show London 2026
* European Coworking Day May 2026
* London Coworking Assembly
* European Coworking Assembly
Bernie’s Projects
* London Coworking Assembly 5-Day AI Crash Course for Coworking Spaces
* Connect with Bernie on LinkedIn
🧠 One More Thing
Coworking brings communities together, helping people find and share their voices.
Each episode of the Coworking Values Podcast explores Accessibility, Community, Openness, Collaboration, and Sustainability—values that shape the spaces where we gather, work, and grow.
If this resonates with you, rate, follow, and share the podcast. Your support helps others discover how coworking enriches lives, builds careers, and strengthens communities.
Community is the key 🔑
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