A Little Light History
(with thanks to Trish Flynn).
In the summer of 1971 two pioneering women (Trish Flynn and Ann Ley) emigrated from London intent on starting a vegetarian restaurant. The two bought a lawnmower shop in St Dunstans. They called it Gateways Vegetarian Restaurant and planted the seed that ultimately grew into Canterbury Wholefoods. Canterbury’s more colourful residents, students and academics ate their way through fresh salads, Indian vegetarian and macrobiotic dishes. The work was labour intensive but exciting as they introduced people to “new” products like brown rice and wholewheat bread! The most popular non-food item was the Desiderata which sold in its thousands. The business withstood the perils of inflation, the three-day week, power cuts, the biggest heatwave ever and the rise of the Sex Pistols.
By 1976 Trish Flynn was the sole owner but the arrival of Trish Stephen with a carload of unusual vegetables and fruit set a new partnership in motion. The
idea of selling fresh and dried goods at markets took shape. Takings went up and in 1978 they expanded with the purchase of Reg Lowe’s grocery business in The Borough. Thery now had two premises. So why the name change? Lowe’s had a strong following for its cold meats counter which they couldn’t afford to lose, so they added continental cheeses and introduced wholefoods there. The name change went with the expansion and St Dunstans switching to retail wholefoods. There was also a need to differentiate the business from a new supermarket chain called Gateways.
The two Trishas’ partnership dissolved in the early 1990s and in 1997 Trish Stephen put Canterbury Wholefoods up for sale. The staff (thirteen of them) formed a workers’ co-operative in order to facilitate the purchase, and as a co-op engineered the move from The Borough to the present premises in Jewry Lane. The co-operative itself was dissolved in 2009, leaving two of the original members, Roger Everatt and Martin Darling, as the co-owners.
As many of you know, the Canterbury Wholefoods experience is not just about shopping. We think of our customers as friends, too, and we are only too happy to chat, argue and philosophise with anyone who wants to pass the time of day whilst filling their basket. We hope that you will see this site in a similar way. We intend to keep you informed updated as much as we can, with information, offers, features and tips to help you use to the max the ingredients you might be buying here. If the provenance of the food you buy is important to you – and we know that it is – rest assured that it remains our policy wherever possible to use manufacturers and suppliers who maintain an ethical dimension. Beyond that, we keep a large range of organically-produced foods, lots of Fairtrade products, health & bodycare and as much local produce as we can. We are proud to offer over 3000 products in-store and now online.
Our opening hours are 9 – 6 Monday to Saturday and 10 – 4 on Sundays.
Canterbury Wholefoods 1 & 2 Jewry Lane Canterbury Kent CT1 2Ns
Phone 01227 464623 Fax 01227 764838 email info@canterbury-wholefoods.co.uk
