Best Local Shops To Support This Christmas

Small Business Saturday is the UK’s most successful small business campaign, taking place on the first Saturday of December each year. The campaign rallies small businesses to promote themselves and encourage them to work with other small businesses. It also encourages consumers to support local businesses, whether that’s online or in stores.

This year, Small Business Saturday will be held on the 4th of December. Whether you’re looking for fresh farm produce for your Christmas dinner or foodie gifts to give your friends and family, make sure to shop local this festive season. Not only is it good to support hard-working local folks around you, but local produce is much better for you. The fresher the food, the tastier and more nutritious it is. It’s also better for the planet as there are fewer food miles!

We’ve rounded up some of our favourite small businesses around the UK, offering everything from fresh produce and cheeses, to sweet treats and gift hampers. Don’t forget they also stock an amazing range of herbs and spices and gourmet cooking sauces too! Thanks for supporting small business.

Claremont Farm Shop

Claremont Farm Shop has an excellent selection of produce grown on its farm on the Wirral. Although famous for its strawberries and asparagus, fresh fruit and vegetables aren’t the only thing you’ll find here. Local farmers, gamekeepers and artisans supply the shop with top quality meats, unique cheeses, fresh milk, real ales, chutneys, pickles, fresh bread and baked goodies — it’s a one-stop shop for all your Christmas needs.

Macknade

Macknade brings together producers, suppliers and consumers around a shared love of food and drink. There are three locations in Kent: Ashford, Faversham and Tunbridge Wells. Their food halls have a great selection of fresh produce, meats and deli treats, cheeses, dips and spreads, and freshly baked goods. Pick up some flower arrangements for your Christmas table, or get gift inspiration with the large selection of hampers. This year, for every order placed in the Christmas shop, Macknade is making a £5 donation to Porchlight, Kent’s leading homeless charity.

Low Sizergh Barn

Situated in Kendal, Low Sizergh Barn has an excellent farm shop set in a 17th century barn on their National Trust farm. From home-grown vegetables to crafts, gifts and clothing, it’s a treasure trove for everybody. Find foodie treats like fudge and pate, liqueurs from local producers, gift wrapped hampers and natural beauty products. The cows on the farm produce organic raw milk which you can buy, and it’s also turned into delicious ice cream and cheese by local artisans.

Kenyon Hall Farm

Kenyon Hall Farm offers fresh, tasty and locally-sourced food which you can enjoy at the cafe or pick up from the farm shop in Warrington. Whatever it stocks comes directly from the farm or from local producers nearby. The farm produces fresh fruit and vegetables, honey from its own beehives and duck eggs laid right there. Pick up homemade jams and chutneys (perfect for that Xmas charcuterie board) or freshly baked bread and cakes made in the kitchen. Organic meat and grass-fed beef come from farms just a few miles away.

Delifonseca

Delifonseca is based in Liverpool and describes itself as a ‘foodie all-rounder’. As well as a restaurant, it also has a food hall with a full service cheese, charcuterie and antipasto counter, a cake counter heaving with desserts, locally sourced meat from the Wirral just across the water, cupboard essentials like jams and spreads, and a well-stocked selection of wines and spirits. They also have a Christmas shop with everything you could possibly need for the festive season — chocolates and panettone, cheese selections,vegan advent calendars and hampers.

Fine Fruit of Pensby

This local greengrocer based on the Wirral has over twenty years of experience supplying fresh fruit and vegetables to local communities. The produce is sourced from local growers, and you can find fruit and veg boxes, freshly baked bread, fresh meat, juices and drinks, preserves and honey, and chilled dairy products. If you’re Christmas gift shopping, you can even get hampers and gift bags filled with things like chutneys, cheeses and gin from local makers.

Darts Farm

Located in the estuary port town of Topsham in Devon, Darts Farm is a shopping destination with a working farm at its heart. The food hall is filled with hundreds of local and artisan suppliers, from the best West Country cheeses to pastries and chocolates. There’s the finest quality meats, including locally-reared free range turkeys, geese and other Christmas meats like beef wellington and turkey cushions. You’ll also find over fifty types of fresh fruit and veg grown on the farm, a drinks cellar and tasting bar, and fresh seafood from local waters.

Stein’s Deli

You can’t go wrong with a Rick Stein deli. Stein’s Deli in Padstow is packed full of foodie treats, drinks and Cornish homeware. The jams, chutneys, relishes and biscuits are all made to Rick’s recipes — the traditional Cornish pasties are a must-buy. It’s also a great place to pick up Christmas gifts, whether that’s Rick Stein gin, local cheeses like Cornish yarg, signed cookery books or natural skincare and candles from Jill Stein’s collection.

Manuka Whole Foods

Nestled in the heart of Chichester, Manuka Whole Foods has a large range of organic, natural and locally-sourced food and drink, beauty and bodycare products, and remedies and supplements. In addition to fruit and vegetables from local growers, the shop sells ethically sourced groceries with no harmful preservatives. Find everything from coffee and pasta to baking ingredients and cleaning products. There are also beers, wines and spirits which are all vegan and organic — the perfect guilt-free Christmas tipple.

Eggs To Apples

Eggs To Apples is a farm shop in Etchingham with a focus on ethical, sustainably sourced products which are pesticide free and with minimal packaging. This Christmas, the shop is bursting with local festive food, drinks, treats, trees, wreaths and gifts. Whatever you need, you’ll find it here. Pick up local, free range turkeys, hams, gammons, bacon and sausages. Choose a freshly cut Christmas tree, and select a locally made wreath to adorn your front door. Don’t forget the presents either — there are also Christmas hampers that you can put together yourself with local goodies.

Larners Of Holt

With over 250 years of serving the local community in Holt, Larners of Holt is an independent, family-run department store. It stocks everything you need, including furniture, kitchen and homeware, garden items, clothing, beauty products, and wine and spirits. There is also an award-winning food hall where you can buy all kinds of groceries, freshly baked bread and cakes, deli foods, confectionery, and health foods and medicines. Their Christmas shop is particularly tempting, with artisan panettones, gourmet chocolates, cheese and pate gift boxes and luxury hampers.

Ludlow Farm Shop

Ludlow Farm Shop is a one-of-a-kind shopping experience where farming, food and retail come together. The fresh produce, meats and dairy products come straight from the farm which is set across 6,500 acres on the Oakly Park Estate. The farm shop has picked up over 150 awards for its products, including artisanal cheeses, butter and yoghurt from its dairy farm, coffee from the coffee roasting department, meats from the butchery, quiches, jams and pickles from the kitchen, and cakes and breads from the bakery. There is also a Christmas shop stocked with cakes and mince pies, chocolate gifts and seasonal biscuits.

Rafi’s Spicebox

Rafi’s Spicebox is a family-run business championing the world of Indian cookery. Their products include pickles and chutneys, snacks, breads and rice, spices and Indian cupboard essentials. Find all kinds of handmade curry mixes and curry kits, including a Christmas Leftovers Curry Pack — great for all that leftover turkey. Know someone who absolutely loves Indian food?  Their traditional cookware (including a spice tin and balti dish set), cookbooks and hampers are the perfect gift.