Liverpool's mobile greengrocers scheme to be extended

Paul Flannery said people enjoy visiting his fresh produce stall

A scheme which helps people access fresh fruit and vegetables has proved so popular it will be expanded.

Queen of Greens in Liverpool supports mobile greengrocers in minibuses to target the city's "food deserts" - places where green produce can be difficult to find.

The aim is to reduce health inequalities and improve nutrition.

Only about half of adults in the city eat the recommended five-a-day of fruit and vegetables.

For 11-18 year olds that figure drops to just 12%.

The project is being run by charities Feeding Liverpool and Feedback Global with funding from organisations across the city.

Greengrocer Paul Flannery, who has been with the scheme since it started in 2022, said: "You get a lot of people who know about the bus, look forward to coming to the bus, and when they come there, they meet other people who are in the same situation as themselves."

Paul said he found people were keen to know about different produce which they might not have come across before.

"Eventually they'll say 'What's that?' I'll say 'It's a butternut squash' or whatever and this is how you cook it.

"They'll come back the next week and say 'That was lovely that' and then some people will get on the bus who don't know each other and they'll say 'I had that last week. If I was you, I'd cook it this way.'

"It's about people getting to know each other, it's just to get people to eat healthy. That's what I'm passionate about."

Paul Flannery gets to a wholesale market for 05:00 each morning

The buses have a fixed weekly schedule and stops, with a particular emphasis on community and family centres in the areas where fresh produce cannot be accessed within a kilometre walk.

Many of the people I met on Paul's run told me of the lack of local shops offering healthy food, one woman said it was easier to place a bet than buy a piece of fruit.

Lucy Antal, senior project manager at Feedback Global, which helped start the scheme, pointed out for a healthy person with a car and no caring responsibilities a kilometre might not seem like much, but for someone with mobility issues, poor health or small children, who was relying on public transport, it can be a very different prospect - particularly if they were on a low income.

She said: "You might not have the money to get a supermarket delivery because there's usually a minimum spend.

"The public transport option might not be suitable for you, you might not have access to a car, so you're having to use part of your household budget to spend on taxis."

Lucy Antal helped start the scheme in Liverpool

Paul prides himself on offering competitive prices getting to the wholesale market at 05:00 each morning to stock up.

A significant proportion of his customers also receive government Healthy Start vouchers which can be used on the bus.

Many also have vouchers from a national charity called Alexander Rose which aims to improve children's nutrition.

The vouchers were designed to be used in neighbourhood markets and Lucy campaigned to bring them to the city to be used in conjunction with Paul's business.

Feeding Liverpool and Feedback Global have also run cookery courses to help people make meals on a budget, but Lucy said the main issue was obtaining fresh food at a reasonable price.

"If we can sort out the access to the fresh food then you can teach people how to cook and manage and sort all those bits out but if the food isn't there in the first place, it's completely pointless," she said.

Many of the people I talked to have young children and said the vouchers allowed them to pick treats like berries which would otherwise be too expensive.

Clare said she enjoyed visiting Paul's mobile produce stall

At Everton Children's Centre, Clare said she also chose Paul's van over the supermarkets because his produce was better.

"It lasts a lot longer than it does in the supermarkets and that's why I look forward to coming here," she said.

Another visitor Charlotte agreed, saying she appreciated the lack of chocolate and cake displays - tempting to young children and often difficult for parents to refuse.

"It means especially when you've got a small child, that you don't have to go out to the shops because it's not very easy navigating little children with everything that you can see there," she said.

Queen of the Greens receives funding and support from the council, social housing groups, and the local NHS including Alder Hey Children's Hospital.

It's now about to take on another van and expand the number of stops in the city.

Paul said he loves his job: "It's all about affordability and giving people what they want.

"That's how I look at it. If you can afford a certain amount of stuff to feed your family at an affordable price then I'm happy with that."