Shopping with local businesses keeps the money you spend circulating in your local community. It’s a good way to support the economy around you, to help out small independent businesses and to find food that’s locally grown or produced.

Throughout the city, there are lots of new ways to shop in ways that can benefit your community, your health and the environment.

In the heart of the city centre, Cardiff’s Victorian indoor market is home to butchers, bakers, fishmongers and greengrocers. The historic city centre Arcades are also home to many of our best-known independent food businesses. There are farmers markets and local food markets popping up throughout the city too – from the Riverside Farmers Market which has been going for more than 20 years, to new spaces like the Corporation in Canton.

Throughout the suburbs we have a fantastic range of ethnic speciality shops selling food from across the world. They don’t just offer amazing choice of hard-to-find ingredients, but a chance to learn more about different food cultures and to pick up tips and recipes.

On the high street we’re seeing new refill shops growing in popularity – Ripple in Roath is a good example – where you can pick up good value loose dry and frozen food and cleaning products. Filling your own containers means less packaging and you can buy as much as you need.

If you’re eating out, it helps to support businesses which are also helping their communities – places like bigmoose which is also a charity supporting people out of homelessness and Wild Thing which funds a Community Fridge to give food to people in need. And many of our local hospitality businesses are doing their bit – look out for places which are sourcing produce locally, paying the Living Wage and have environmental standards like the Green Key.

If you’re running a business, these are the actions you can take to make a difference. Paying the Living Wage helps to ensure more people in the city can afford to eat well, sourcing locally keeps transport to a minimum and supports the economy around you, and joining recognised environmental accreditation schemes can help to inspire others to follow your example.