Neighbours in south Tottenham have launched a weekly food co-op to cut their shopping bills, with the first day’s produce sorted and taken home within three hours.
Crates of tomatoes, carrots, onions, mushrooms, broccoli, peppers and pineapples were piled high on the stage of Mannions, the Irish community pub in south Tottenham, for the launch of the new neighbourhood co-operative.
Within three hours, all of the food — bought collectively by neighbours — had been sorted into individual bags and taken home.
Shiri Shalmy of Cooperation Town said: “What a great first day! Amazing participation from all the volunteers and excellent produce. So good to see all the smiling faces as people picked up their bags.”
How the co-op works
A food co-op is where neighbours come together to buy food and other household items at wholesale prices, saving at least 40 per cent on supermarket prices. Typically, each member puts in £5 a week, the group decides collectively what to buy that week, and the food is delivered to a collection point where members pick up their bags. Bags can also be delivered to the home of anyone unable to collect their own.
Each co-op is owned by its members in the local area, with decisions made collectively and run according to local needs.
Sean O’Donovan, one of the volunteer organisers, said: “We are all worried about the cost of food as essential items are becoming increasingly unaffordable. I am so pleased that Co-operation Markfield is the newest member of the growing network of residents-led hyperlocal food co-operatives in Haringey.”
He thanked Mick and Rose of Mannions for the use of the pub, along with Edible London and partners Kin Co-operative and Cooperation Town. “This is very much a resident-led initiative which is already helping hundreds of people in Haringey, a borough with a long history of cooperation, welcome and solidarity,” he said.
A growing network
There are five longstanding food co-ops in the borough, and another new one — Cooperation Lordship West — is being established by neighbours in the streets around Downhills Park.
Mr O’Donovan said the first step is to knock on every door in a local area of about 1,000 households in around 20 streets, to make sure everyone has an opportunity to get involved. A foundation meeting is then organised, and the residents themselves form the co-op.
The open foundation meeting for the Lordship West area will be held on Tuesday 10 November at 6.30pm at the Lordship Rec Hub.
Rob Callander of Kin Cooperative said food co-ops matter because residents want them: when local residents were surveyed about what type of cooperation they were most interested in, 98 per cent expressed an interest in food co-ops.
Other boroughs are also offering cost-of-living help this winter, including £200 winter energy grants and draught-proofing for older residents in Barnet.
