Roys launches its Spring Food Fayre

Strawberries from three miles down the road, delivered in the back of a van - rather than from hundreds of miles away and transported in large lorries, repacked at a distribution centre and back on the road for another lengthy, polluting trip.

Strawberries from three miles down the road, delivered in the back of a van - rather than from hundreds of miles away and transported in large lorries, repacked at a distribution centre and back on the road for another lengthy, polluting trip.

It is just one of the many stories behind a local Spring Food Fayre launched on Monday at Roys Food Hall in Hoveton.

Free tastings, meeting the producers in person and recipe tips will be on offer until Saturday.

The individual suppliers attending will rotate day to day, but businesses have included ice cream, beer and meat producers.

Roys use 115 local producers, who provide 1,000 lines, said Paul Roy, marketing and buying director.

'Using local suppliers isn't something simply to produce headlines, it is about being fresher and better,' said Mr Roy.

'Why bring strawberries hundreds of miles when you can get wonderful ones from just down the road?

'People are looking for good quality food and value for money. If they can get both at the same time, they will be happy.'

The number of local suppliers was pretty much as high as it could go, said Mr Roy. Extending would be nigh on impossible because a wide range of products such as oranges and bananas were obviously not available locally.

'It's about doing as much as we can, we have asparagus, eggs, potatoes, apple juice, ice cream and so much more from just a few miles away - it's a good strong range.

'And it all fits in with what people want, the local food issue has become more and more explicit in the minds of shoppers in the last half dozen years, although being a local company which has been around for 114 years, it's something we have always done.'

The fayre runs from 10am to 4pm each day.