Shop of the week: Fox & West

Walking into Hannah and Lucy’s shop and cafe is like taking steps into a secret garden.

Hidden away on Wells Road, Fox & West is decorated with hanging plant pots, old-fashioned baskets and wooden shelves filled with fruit and veg, jam jars and colourful glass bottles. Welcoming smells of roasting coffee and freshly-baked bread, whilst a cash register tings and shoppers make friendly conversation in the background welcome customers. There’s even a small play area in the corner for kids to enjoy.

“People never come in in a rush.” says co-owner Lucy Fox. “You can come in and sit down with a cake and a cappuccino, and then carry on with your shopping.”

The business is focused on organic food, sustainable providers and reducing the plastic mountain at landfill. “We’re moving towards the more eco-friendly packaging side of things.

“It’s really important to us, and we’ve found that that’s what people want.”

Fox & West is also devoted to reducing food miles by buying as local as possible: “The more we can find that is local, the better,” says Lucy, “most of the people we get our food from are really close to the shop, so we like to find people with small businesses like this one.

“We help each other out, really.”

Lucy Fox, co-owner of the deli and cafe, is aiming to be as local and eco-friendly as possible

The founders, Lucy Fox and Hannah West, met while teaching at a North Somerset school and quickly developed a close friendship: “We used to work together a few years ago and talked about setting this up,” says Lucy. “Hannah decided to leave her job, and that just kick-started us into finding a place to do it. So that’s how we ended up here.”

The two had been searching the area for four years before they discovered the current premises. They fell in love with it immediately and quickly gave it their own twist. “There was a similar business here before,” says Lucy, “and when we walked in, under the previous ownership, we just knew it was the right place.”

Of everything responsible to the business’ success, the key is of course the local community. Set in the heart of Totterdown on Wells Road, the shop draws in people from all over to relax and have a chat. “We’ve been really lucky because the community have really supported us,” says Lucy, “it feels like they want us to be here. It’s perfect.”

Lucy first came to Bristol from Birmingham, instantly falling in love with the city’s vibrance and creativity, saying: “I think Bristol just really supports its independence, especially in terms of art and music. People here always want something different.

“We love being part of the community here, and I think that’s what’s really nice about Bristol. All these pockets of communities all over the place. In Birmingham I just didn’t feel that.”

Despite the charm and sense of community that it installs, Fox & West struggle to keep up with the low prices that chains can offer. “Obviously we can’t compete in terms of the prices that supermarkets can come up with. Sometimes they’re selling it at a price that’s even less than what we can buy it for.

Fresh loaves welcome customers into Fox & West

“It really just depends on what’s important to you as a person.” says Lucy. “Yes, some things can be quite expensive, but we like to look at the bigger picture – take our egg man for example. He owns the farm, looks after the chickens, and delivers the eggs to us. He’s a real person and that has much more feeling to it – so if you look at the chain behind everything, you can feel a real connection to it.

“I just think we’re genuine, down-to-earth people who just want to provide something for the community.”

Unit 3, 172 Wells Road, Bristol, BS4 2AL, United Kingdom, www.foxandwest.co.uk

Read more: New deli and cafe opens on Wells Road