Just 18 months after becoming part of the Flourish food hall & kitchen business, a former farm shop in Bath has been named the best of its kind.
Flourish is the brainchild of Paul Hargreaves, CEO of wholesaler Cotswold Fayre, and retail & hospitality market veteran Paul Castle. The pair shared a desire to create a planet-friendly retail and dining destination that could make a positive impact, a desire that resulted in them opening the first Flourish site at Glenavon Farm, Saltford, in 2021.
Glenavon Farm has since expanded to include a home & lifestyle store and pottery painting barn, and in 2024 came the opportunity to take over Bath’s Farleigh Road farm shop and transform it into a second Flourish site.
Located 12 miles from Glenavon Farm in the village of Norton St Philip, Bath, Farleigh Road had 3,500 sq ft of retail space and another 4,000 sq ft of warehousing and storage when they took it on. The shop was kept open while the business was renovated, which included expanding into the former warehouse space, and Flourish Farleigh Road officially opened its doors in November 2024.
“We always like our customers to walk through and exit via the shop, butchery and deli counters, so this expansion allowed us to make the flow work,” says MD Castle. “We wanted our customers to know that they were in a Flourish site without having to read the name, so we took design features from Glenavon Farm and incorporated them into Farleigh Road.”
The site offers a food hall stocked with artisan products selected to offer a taste of something different from a supermarket, including a deli counter with local cheeses, patisserie and takeaway hot drinks, toasties and sandwiches. All the meat on the butchery counter is sourced from farms within 60 miles and the finest cuts are hand-selected by craft butchers. Farleigh Road’s restaurant, called the Kitchen, offers breakfast, light lunches or Sunday roast made with seasonal ingredients, many supplied by the food hall next door.
An on-site production kitchen that opened in March last year supplies both the Flourish businesses with a range of deli counter and food hall products including cookies, cakes, sausage rolls, scotch eggs and quiches.
“Since its launch, the production kitchen offering has continued to grow into new flavours, tastes and products such as ’school cake’ and Kinder Bueno cookies,” says Castle.
Unsurprisingly, most chilled and ambient products sold and used by Flourish come from Cotswold Fayre. “Having one ambient and chilled supplier of over 80% of our stock makes our operation efficient and seamless. We get great data of what is selling well across the UK.”
“We buy the best of local to ensure we support small artisan suppliers on our doorstep too. We are a great way of testing products in-store, then moving them into the Cotswold Fayre range for national distribution if successful with us.”
Cotswold Fayre and Flourish are both B Corp certified and hold themselves and their suppliers to high environmental and ethical standards. Every supplier that works with the businesses must sign a Code of Conduct promising excellence within their supply chains and complete an annual social and environmental survey.
“This means we can trust these products are of exceptionally high quality with high environmental and social standards,” explains Castle.
Fruit and vegetables come from Wiltshire-based Lovejoys, bakery items from Bristol-based B Corp Hobbs House Bakery, and other local suppliers are used for products such as alcohol or local honey.
Environmentally-friendly initiatives at Farleigh Road include electric car charging points, refill stations and a heat recovery system, and native hedgerow has been planted to supply flowers and berries for the local wildlife.
Flourish drives footfall by offering a range of in-store events including Family Fundays and Mega Musical Bingo. A monthly subscription service enables locals to get unlimited takeaway hot drinks, while a loyalty card scheme offers members discounts on essentials, regular offers and exclusive events, and a monthly e-newsletter. Since February this year, tastings have been hosted at least once a week in the food hall.
“As well as artisan, local and sustainably-sourced products, what makes Flourish unique is going above and beyond to give the best service,” says Castle. “We want every customer to feel as though they are being welcomed by a friend and leave with a good feeling.”
Farleigh Road’s commitment to service and sustainability were among the reasons that Farm Shop & Deli Retailer Awards judges selected the business as Food Hall of the Year in the 2026 awards.
”To be recognised as a business that champions British produce, sustainable sourcing and exceptional customer experience is a huge accolade for Flourish,” says Castle, adding it is a testament to the hard work put in by the team.
“This is a real boost, especially as this is Farleigh Road’s first full year of trading as Flourish. We are thrilled to be recognised among so many other fantastic specialist food and drink retailers in the UK for offering the highest levels of service, product knowledge, initiative and community involvement.”
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