Northampton - The Daily Bread Co-operative

The Daily Bread Co-operative is a rather special place!  They're committed to providing healthy, high quality food at very reasonable prices.

I asked their manager if he'd hear of the excellent Unicorn Grocery which is one of the first places I visited when I started this blog.  He told me that the Unicorn Grocery was based on the same model, devised by Roger Sawtell in the 1980s, and it was first used by the Daily Bread Co-operative in Northampton.

The building I'd assumed was an old railway station, but actually was once laundry to St Andrews Hospital up the hill.

Inside the shop:

there's over 5,000 different products.  The Daily Bread was one of the first to champion causes such as Fair Trade goods and organic food production, and do not stock any product containing animal products.

Because it's a genuine co-op prices are less than what you'd pay elsewhere. The savings are even greater if you buy larger sizes:

so why not start your own mini co-op and buy a bigger bag than you need and share it with friends and neighbours.

At the back of the shop there's spices:

and again the cost is a fraction of what you'd pay in a supermarket.

I bought 50g of organic dill for about the same as you'd pay for 10g in a supermarket.

There's chilled and frozen products:

like Sheese - a variety of non dairy and dairy free cheese substitutes suitable for vegans and Woodlands Dairy sheep and goats' milk products.

I bought some apple juice:

from the Village Orchard and some Chunky Piccalilli:

from Labour of Love preserves.  It didn't need "Labour of love" on the label, you could tell it was made with love...  I see she makes a Wild Blackberry & Pinot Noir Jam, and a Hopping Mad Hearty Ale Chutney (made with ale from the Hopping Mad Brewery).  I'll be on the look out for anything she makes...

Bizarrely until recently the one thing the Daily Bread didn't sell was bread (it a Christian co-op which gets its name from the bible).  However they've now put that right:

If you're too far from Northampton, there's also a daily bread in Cambridge, and you can also shop online at ecofair.

Daily Bread Co-operative Ltd
The Old Laundry
Bedford Road
Northampton
NN4 7AD

Tel: 01604 621531

Web: http://www.dailybread.co.uk