New Roots is a friendly, not-for-profit shop, run entirely by volunteers. Selling everything that is good for you from vegetarian and vegan snacks to fair trade, gluten-free, and organic wholefoods, as well as local, organic fruit and vegetables.
It all started in 1987 when the Ashram Community wanted to provide local vegan and vegetarian produce to the people of Sheffield. This community has continued to grow and has created a lively and vibrant shop, with countless volunteers supporting the various projects of social justice and delicious food.
But there is much more to New Roots than meets the eye; on the lowest floor of the shop is the ‘New Roots Speakeasy’, where a whole host of seminars, talks and film screenings are held. Community groups can hire the space for meetings or events and it’s a place where the customer can enjoy their tasty treats bought from the shop above.
This year sees the return of ‘New Roots, New Rhymes’, an evening of local, free-range musicians and tasty, vegan beer!
Running solely on volunteers can be a tricky endeavour but with a small community-ran garden where vegetables and herbs, fruits and berries are grown keeps the volunteers fit and healthy and is a small thank you for all the time and effort they put in!
New Roots also has their very own pedal-powered volunteer-run delivery service, providing customers with a tasty box of local and organic fruit and vegetables to their door.
New Roots has strong ties and associations with other projects across Sheffield that have similar views and ideas. The Abundance project is one of these; set up by Grow Sheffield in 2007 it uses volunteers to harvest the seasonal glut of fruit across the city and redistribute the surplus to the local community. There are a number of university societies that New Roots have close connections with and they are looking to establish new relationships with- and help support like minded groups.
So if you are looking for some quality produce, a place to host a community event or want to do some volunteering head down to New Roots and see what it has to offer!
