The ‘hipsters’ fuelling boom in farm shops

FARM shops are booming across the country amid growing demand from middle-class shoppers and trendy ‘hipsters’, figures reveal.

Once seen as quaint but expensive specialist shops selling the odd cut of meat or home-made jam, their numbers have grown from 1,200 in 2004 to around 3,500 today.

A poll of 2,000 shoppers found four in ten had been to a farm shop in the past 12 months and nearly half intend to visit one in the future.

Three in four said they went for the quality of produce and 60 per cent cited the provenance of the goods, according to the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board.

Middle-class shoppers with discerning tastes have helped fuel enthusiasm for artisan producers and organic food that can be traced to a local source.

The trend has also helped make farm shops the fastest-growing part of the meat-selling industry, according to the Guild of Butchers. In a regional breakdown, 48 per cent of consumers in the South East and South West visited a farm shop in the past year, compared with 26 per cent in the North East.