LevellerLive

South Somerset District Council is launching an initiative to promote local food and drinks businesses. By producing a directory of businesses that are still producing and selling, the aim is to help them survive and hopefully thrive through the pandemic. Cllr John Clark, SSDC portfolio holder for economy explains “Many businesses have had to turn to online sales or takeaway deliveries following the closure of pubs, restaurants and shops. As such, they really are still providing a positive service to customers and we should be proud of them. The aim of our directory is to provide a guide for residents to where they can find excellent local produce and support local businesses.”

SSDC want to add as many local food businesses as possible. They have approached all the ones they are aware of but if that isn’t yours and you are in South Somerset – please get in touch!

You can contact them via this link https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/HQPYF6/

So far over 100 businesses are included and the guides will be continually updated during the pandemic. Local producers, bakers, butchers, pizza makers, farm shops are among the suppliers offering an extraordinarily huge variety of produce.

The directory is split into four areas – West, East, North and South.

To see the directories and the map, please visit – https://www.southsomerset.gov.uk/media/3281/final-food-directory.pdf

There is just one caveat, SSDC does not endorse any of the businesses in the directory. It is providing this information for residents to make their own choices. That bit is fair enough. However residents are being asked to use the Food Standards Agency website to check food hygiene ratings. Which is a pity because a more technologically savvy council might have linked the two sources of data to give consumers all the information in one place.