“If we can make people feel like anything is possible, anything is solvable, together... We can find a way together.” - Karen Tait
Tired of running yourself into the ground?
Then stop running alone.
On February 24th, the London Coworking Assembly presents Unreasonable Connection Goes Live!—a one-day working session for the people running London’s most vital neighbourhood spaces and the public sector allies working to help them thrive. It’s a day to share the load, find real solutions, and build a new playbook, together.
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.
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