Reviewed by FR 2/10
Boyce’s Avenue, Clifton Village, Bristol, BS8 4AA - view map
It is no exaggeration to say that ethical foodie heaven can be found under the arch in Clifton village. The business, which Debbie Atherton and David Greenman bought in November 2009, won the 2009 ‘Discover the Origin’ award organised by Speciality Food Magazine to raise awareness and publicise the importance of food provenance in delis and independent stores throughout the UK.
Reviewed by
269 North Street, Bedminster, Bristol, BS3 1JN - view map
Good range of local, seasonal produce. Ashton Fruit Shop try to source locally wherever possible, and everything is well-labelled. Stock turnover is high, and sometimes labelling does not keep pace with the change, so ask if uncertain – the staff are always helpful.
Reviewed by BM & MP 20/4/06 JS 25/6/07
The Bristol Proving House, Sevier Street, Bristol, BS2 9QS - view map
Fruit & veg with good seasonal crop availablity and range – some produce from the Better Food Company’s own walled garden in Wrington. Wide range of other foods including dairy, meat and dry goods.
Reviewed by JS
250 North Street, Southville, Bristol, BS3 1JD - view map
Well labelled meats with some local suppliers – Pork from Gloucestershire, Lamb from the Mendips, Sandridge Farm bacon (Wiltshire). Sausages made on the premises eg: Mendip lamb and mint. Chew Valley Eggs, local cheddar and pickles.
Reviewed by JS updated 2/09
V Shed, Canon’s Road, Bristol, BS1 5LL - view map
Bordeaux Quay is not just a posh restaurant upstairs, and a cheaper brasserie upstairs, it is also a bar, deli, bakery and cookery school.
Reviewed by JS 2/09
427 Stapleton Road, Easton, Bristol, BS5 6NA - view map
Breadolution bake a range of quality breads, pastries, cakes, and biscuits on site, and offer a sandwich service and deli counter. Flour and fresh yeast also available.
Reviewed by
Chandos Deli, which has branches in Clifton, Henleaze, and the centre, sells wonderful locally roasted Brian Wogan coffee, sandwiches made with local cheeses and hams, and a great range of own-made cakes – the chocolate brownies are especially good, and so are the savoury lunch-sized tarts. Their packaging is low on plastic and often consists of paper bags.
Reviewed by JS 11/06
54 Cotham Hill, Cotham, Bristol, BS6 6JX - view map
One of the few independent wine merchants in Bristol, Corks stocks a wide range of British beers, with at least 80 varieties available at any one time.
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170 Gloucester Road, Bishopston, Bristol, BS7 8NU - view map
Here is a butcher that takes the time to serve you and answer your questions – Dave Giles has been around for 16 years and 80% of his products are locally sourced, both organic and non-organic.
Reviewed by PC
8 Abbotsford Road, Cotham, Bristol, BS6 6JX - view map
Earthbound sells 90% organic products, but all the vegetables, fruit, bread and milk are organic. Fruit and veg are sourced as locally as possible, with deliveries from organic farms and co-ops in Somerset, Devon, and Wales. Imported produce is not flown. Bread is from Herberts and grocery items are sourced locally where possible, and also where available from small producers, with jams and chutneys from Stroud and from Wales and organic ice cream from Cornwall.
Reviewed by
Wholefoods from Essential Trading, organic fruit and vegetables from Leigh Court Farm, local chemical-free fruit and vegetables brought by bike and trailer from Hartcliffe Community Market Gardens (zero food miles), bread from Bishopsworth Bakery, lunch items from Real Food, Southville, organic cheese, free range eggs and meat from Alvis Brothers, spreads from Natural Vitality.
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159 Gloucester Road, Bishopston, Bristol, BS7 8BA - view map
Gloucester Road suffers a good deal of traffic, and so the Gardener’s patch is well situated for trade and mermerising flashing light by the zebra crossing.
Reviewed by JP 4/4/06
11 Gloucester Road, Bishopston, Bristol, BS7 8AA - view map
At the back of the shop there are a few steps which lead up to the weigh-it-on-your-own dry goods section. The steps separate a wooden herringbone from pale linoleum, and both parts of the shop are lit starkly by translucent squares in the suspended ceiling. Even with the faint reggae soundtrack, there’s rather a feeling of being in a hospital corridor.
Reviewed by JP 4/4/06
Wellington Avenue, Montpelier, Bristol, BS6 5HP - view map
A family run bakery since the 1960s, Herbert’s bakes a range of breads and cakes on the Montpelier site using flour from Shipton Mill in Gloucestershire.
Reviewed by
89 Gloucester Road, Bishopston, Bristol, BS7 8AS - view map
Some wholefoods shops seem to contain all the things you want, and others lean more towards things to which you’re almost entirely indifferent. Here, we find Duchy Originals Marmalade, made in Somerset, which is exactly what breakfast asks of us. And there is the Lyme Regis Dark Chocolate Marzipan – once discovered, never forgotten.
Reviewed by J H-S 25/6/07
17 Cotham Road South, Cotham, Bristol, BS6 6JX - view map
Monikas in Kingsdown is really good, especially for indian food (much of it homemade) and organic products, they also have the cricket on 24/7!
They also sell Herbert’s bread.
Reviewed by
Behind the aerosol cityscape of Bristol lie words we like to hear: ‘if it’s able to be sourced locally, it is. We pay a fair price to the farmer for a quality product which we sell at a fair price. People want more fat on their chops so that’s what we give them.’ Sounds like a mantra for ethical butchery.
Reviewed by
All ingredients for their handmade pies are sourced from the West Country, with the exception of the lemon grass. Only free-range eggs are used in the pastry, and the company has a full traceability policy for all of their ingredients.
Reviewed by JP 4/4/06
41 Picton Street, Montpelier, Bristol, BS6 5PZ - view map
Although the namesake farm in Timsbury supplies only some of the vegetables for sale, the criterion of organic is more closely adhered to. The purchase of local goods is made preferentially wherever possible.
Reviewed by FR 2/10
6 Boyce’s Avenue, Clifton Village , Bristol, BS8 4AA - view map
Reg the Veg is a Clifton institution, but since September 2009 it has been under new management and it shows. Thomas Hagon, ably assisted by his Dad, John, have bought the business and aim to specialise in local and exotic produce.
Reviewed by JP 4/4/06
113 Gloucester Road, Bishopston, Bristol, BS7 8AT - view map
Scoopaway is good, clean, scoop action in clear acrylic with no pretension. Gold Hits are on the radio, and it’s lino on the floor. There’s a good selection of local jars here: honey, notably, from Gloucestershire and Avon, plus an all-you-could-ever-want selection of preserves from Keynsham: Lemon Curd, Tartare Sauce, Horseradish… There are the Pertwood Farm cereals from Wiltshire, Welsh Eggs, the Somerset Dairy, and Bean Sprouts from Hereford.
Reviewed by MC 20/4/06
3 Lower Redland Road, just off Whiteladies Road, Bristol, BS6 9TB - view map
All meat is organic, supplied by the Sheepdrove farm at Lambourn, Berkshire. Eggs from Dorset. Books, organic wine, Sheepdrove honey and wholemeal flour milled on the farm.
Reviewed by JS
262 North Street, Bedminster, Bristol, BS3 1JA - view map
Wholefoods from Essential Trading. Some local cheeses (Cornish Yarg, Stinking Bishop, Somerset Brie, Somerset Rambler) and dairy products (butter and yoghurt from Yeo Valley/Rachel’s Dairy, organic milk from Somerset Dairies). Martin Pitt free range eggs. Tyrells crisps. Bath Ales, Bristol Beer Factory ‘Brunale’ Brunel anniverary commemorative beer, local cider and Welsh and English wines. Herbert’s bread and many other local goodies.
Reviewed by FR 2/10
5 The Mall, Clifton, Bristol, BS8 4DP - view map
As its name would imply, this shop in the heart of Clifton Village puts a huge emphasis on all that is wholesome and as far as possible, local. Just check out this list of just some of their locally produced produce: Bordeaux Quay bread, Manor Farm milk (organic and unhomogenised), Barrington Park organic free-range eggs, Pieminster pies, Leigh Court Farm organic vegetables and cheeses from the Fine Cheese company of Bath.
Reviewed by
A mini farmers’ market comprising: deli, butcher, fishmonger, café and restaurant. British seafood, local organically-reared beef, poultry and fresh Mendip lamb. British cheeses, local eggs, fresh organic bread and other staples.
Reviewed by MC 20/4/06
176 Henleaze Road, Henleaze, Bristol, BS9 4NE - view map
Excellent value snacks – lasagne, bean pie, pizza etc to take away. Home made, mostly organic. Will recycle plastic bags.
Reviewed by
28–30 The Glass Arcade, St Nicholas Markets, Bristol, BS1 1LJ - view map
Although the staff at the Bristol Sausage Shop say that we ‘shouldn’t put local ahead of quality’, having farming regions on all sides means that both criteria can be met without too much difficulty.
Reviewed by EP 6/07 updated JS 2/09
341 Church Road, St George, Bristol, BS5 8AQ - view map
Lucy Morgan has been selling yummy things at markets around the West Country for some time, but opened the Butternut Deli in 2006. The kitchen is situated at the back of the shop, and as food leaves the oven it’s on the table for sale! This is fresh as it gets!
Reviewed by JC 25/5/06
1 Worrall Road, Clifton, Bristol, BS8 2UF - view map
The Old Cheese Shop isn’t quite as the name suggests, selling deli-sandwiches rather than a range of cheeses! This shop uses local meats from Bakers of Nailsea, ham/bacon from Newport and free-range chicken from Tockington, Bristol. Veges come from the local shop Pawsons on Gloucester road.
Situated off Whiteladies road, near the top on the left on Worrall road.
Reviewed by JS 2/09
St Nicholas Market, The Glass Arcade, Bristol, BS1 1LJ - view map
While a lot of the Real Olive Company stock cannot by its nature be locally-sourced, the company has set up the Real Artisan Bakery to supply bread to its shops.
Reviewed by
Trethowan’s make their own Gorwydd Caerphilly at Gorwydd, the family farm just outside the village of Llanddewi Brefi in Ceredigion, West Wales. The team produce their handmade cheese using the minimum of mechanisation.
Reviewed by JM 14/2/06
9-11 Lower Redland Road, Redland, Bristol, BS6 6TB - view map
For those who prefer that human touch, to handle real products and talk to genuinely friendly real people, Wild Oats is a Real Shop – for all your Real Foods. Real Groceries, Frankenstein-free and Organic Food Supplements.
Reviewed by
All the vegetables in the shop are organic and grown on the City Farm’s allotments. The shop also sells eggs laid at the City Farm, and pork, lamb and beef from animals raised on-site or at the City Farm’s sister ‘real’ farm Ash Grove, near Wedmore.
Reviewed by AR 4/10
140a Whiteladies Road, Bristol, BS8 2RS - view map
The Woolies Market at the top of Whiteladies Road has lots of independent traders, some of them selling excellent local produce. There is also a nice café upstairs. It opened in 2009 after Woolworths went bust.
Reviews in the Local Food Directory are submitted to Bristol Friends of the Earth by members of the public. While we do our best to check the accuracy of any factual information in the reviews, any opinion expressed in the review is that of the reviewer him/herself, and does not represent an official endorsement or criticism by Bristol Friends of the Earth. If you feel that a reviewer has been inaccurate or unfair, why not submit your comments on their review?