As one of the top places to eat in Charminster, Bates Restaurant offers great quality, local, home-cooked food.  We are a British restaurant that serves mostly classic British dishes and that means we use locally sourced food as much as possible.  And people come from around the area as well as the local villages of Ensbury Park, West Howe, Winton, Moordown, Mayrick Park, Queens Park, Muscliff, Throop to dine with us.  So why is locally sourced food best?

1.      Supporting local farmers and producers

One of the most important reasons we use locally sourced food where possible is because it helps to support local farmers and producers.  Most businesses of this kind are small, or even ‘micro’ businesses where regular supply to other local businesses can be the key to their survival.  And even for the bigger businesses, having regular sales to restaurants like ourselves can help cut down costs.

2.      Freshest quality and taste

When you buy locally, food only travels a short distance from the farm or producer to our restaurant.  That means when we serve it, it is at the freshest quality and best taste possible.  Even with modern storage, food does lose something the longer it is stored so freshest is definitely best.  And local means freshest.

3.      Cuts down transport costs

If food costs less to transport due to shorter distances, this means it costs us less to buy.  But why does that matter to you, you might ask?  Because it means we can keep our prices affordable and not have to raise costs just because of the cost of the food.  So the shorter distances involved with buying local means that we can continue to keep our prices in the same range.

4.      Support the local economy

While we often buy directly from farms and producers, we also use local suppliers to provide other ingredients we need.  This means we are helping the local economy and so are you when you eat at our restaurant.  Studies show that money spent in the local area (usually said to be 30 miles) circulates 2-3 times, which boosts the whole area.

5.      Less wasted packaging

We are all more aware than ever of the impact that packaging and specifically plastics are having on the environment.  Food packaging is a top cause of this, and locally sourced food can help combat this problem as well.  Because food is travelling a shorter distance and isn’t being stocked in supermarkets, there’s no need to package it in the same way.  So that means less waste and damage to the environment.

6.      You can enjoy the benefits of seasonal food

Back before transport methods evolved, people ate what was in season.  And while it is still nice to get strawberries in winter from other parts of the world, there are benefits to eating seasonally.  When you source food locally, it is easier to do this and to get that seasonal benefit from what you are eating.  It can even help you stick to a healthier diet!