Established 2005 Registered Charity No. 1110656

Scottish Charity Register No. SC043760

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Big Issue sells office

November 12 2009
The charity seeks a more suitable building The office in Manchester city centre has been sold to Addiction Dependency Solutions, a charity that aims to help people with drug and alcohol problems. The magazine will remain in the rented office it has occupied for some time until a new site is found. The street newspaper charity bought the 1,445 sq m property in Oldham Street as headquarters for the Big Issue in the North for an undisclosed sum in 1997, following a fundraising campaign, and with grants from the National Lottery and English Partnerships. It is not known whether it made a profit on this sale. Rhona Bradley, chief executive of ADS, which was already a tenant in the building, said: "The purchase of this flagship building is fantastic news for ADS and all our clients who we work with everyday to overcome their addictions. It marks another exciting era in our 35-year history." Caroline Price, director for the Big Issue in the North, said that the charity would now buy another building in the north that was "better suited" to the needs of the paper and its vendors. She added: "The sale of the building means that we can purchase new premises for the Big Issue in the North that are better suited to the needs of the magazine and the vendors selling it." Founded in 1991, The Big Issue is sold in eight countries, including Australia, Japan, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, Ireland and South Africa. It produces a weekly magazine that is written by journalists and sold by homeless people, who buy it for 75p and then sell to the public for £1.50, keeping 75p for themselves. More than 300,000 copies are sold each week. All vendors must adhere to a code of conduct, which includes stipulations such as sellers must not be seen to be begging, be drunk or have young children with them.
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