Local heroes: Liverpool’s greengrocer on wheels delivering fruit & veg to 'food deserts'

The Queen of Greens is a bus that delivers fresh fruit and vegetables to help tackle food insecurity - - where food is a source of worry, frustration, and stress - across Liverpool and Knowsley. The mobile greengrocers visit health and community centres to provide people with better opportunities to shop for nutritious food closer to their homes or workplaces.

The route takes in neighbourhoods classed as 'food deserts', where residents have to travel more than a kilometre or walk 15 minutes to reach a supermarket selling 'green' produce. The bus is operated day-to-day by greengrocer Paul Flannery, who has been doing the ‘rewarding’ job for the best part of 15 years.

Paul told LiverpoolWorld: "I'm pretty passionate about it because I like getting about, meeting people, helping people and introducing different fruit and vegetables to them. When you see people who haven’t got much and we provide this service ... it’s just rewarding.”

Everyone is welcome to buy from them regardless of income. Customers can pay for their shopping with Alexandra Rose vouchers, Healthy Start vouchers, and cash or card.

Only 1 in 2 adults in Liverpool eat their five recommended fruits and vegetables each day, only 12% of children aged 11-18 eat their five a day, and it is estimated a third of adults in Liverpool are food insecure.

The bus also carries recipe cards with ideas for healthy meals people can make on a budget, and Paul encourages shoppers to buy in amounts they can afford and even try a taste of unfamiliar produce before they buy.

Like a traditional greengrocers, the Queen of Greens bus prioritises stocking local and seasonal produce where possible, including foods from farms in Lancashire and Cheshire, with a focus on quality and choice.

Their usual branded bus is currently out of action, which they said has meant people aren't able to spot them as easily, meaning parts of the community could be missing out. They're currently on the hunt for a replacement.

The project is thanks to a unique partnership between charities Feeding Liverpool, which is leading the city's Good Food Plan strategy to create a city where 'everyone can eat good food', and Feedback Global's project Alchemic Kitchen, with funding from Feeding Britain.

Lucy Antal from Feedback told LiverpoolWorld: "We're run as a social enterprise, so we don't have lots of money; all the money that we earn basically goes back into running the service. We have a lovely bus; unfortunately, it's having to undergo some repairs at the moment, and we don't have a spare bus, so we've had to hire one, which, of course, is eating even further into our expenditure."

• Watch the video for our full feature and to hear more about the Queen of Greens.