An ambitious food hall and market garden looks set for development on the Norfolk Showground outside Norwich.
Described as a “super farm shop”, The Norfolk Food Hall & Market Garden will include a café, butcher, delicatessen, outdoor seating area and a two-acre market garden, which will be the base for a community growing project.
The development has been proposed by the Royal Norfolk Agricultural Association (RNAA), which has said the shop would showcase Norfolk’s food and drink producers. It hoped the development would encourage visitors to connect with food, farming and the countryside, as well as creating local employment and education opportunities.
The proposal, which includes a new-build 8,000 sq ft building, has an estimated cost of £2.3m. It follows the RNAA selling a former showground car park to a housing developer. The association previously pledged that funds from the sale would be used to improve facilities at the showground.
A public consultation on The Norfolk Food Hall & Market Garden closed this month ahead of a formal planning application, which is expected to be submitted in the coming weeks.
The project would be a flagship destination for shoppers seeking local produce, claimed RNAA MD Mark Nicholas. “It is going to be a super farm shop, but it is going to be much more than that. Blended into the surroundings of the showground, there’s going to be a café operation as part of the building, and we are going to put in place a community fruit & veg growing scheme.”
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