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Welcome to the Buy Cornish Local Sourcing Project
The Buy Cornish Local Sourcing Project ran from October 2007 to March 2008 and aimed; to try to establish the types of goods and/or services purchased by businesses located in Cornwall and where these were purchased out-of-county, to look for alternative local suppliers. The project was split into two stages, a survey of the spending habits of businesses located in Cornwall which was conducted between October and December 2007 and a research stage, offering free assistance to businesses looking to improve their local sourcing network.
The final report is currently being compiled and, once completed, will be available to download from this website.
For more information email on info@buy-cornish.co.uk or call Enterprise Edge on 0800 052 3942.
Case studies: Cornish firms, buying Cornish...
The world’s your lobster – Tregarthen’s Hotel, St Mary’s, Isles of Scilly
The islands’ oldest surviving hotel, Tregarthen’s has a longstanding reputation and a fiercely loyal clientele; some of whom have seen more than a third of the business’s 150-year history. Manager Ben Jakes believes that buying locally – particularly when sourcing ingredients for the hotel restaurant – is a key part of Tregarthen’s enduring appeal.
“Food is important to us because, if you get it wrong, people simply don’t come back,” he explains. “Our guests love to ask where our produce came from and they expect it to be local wherever possible.”
“Seafood is best of all because we can usually tell them the name of the fisherman who caught their dinner!”
One of Tregarthen’s regular suppliers is Scillonian fisherman Barry Bennett, who provides freshly picked crab and lobster to the hotel.
Some of Tregarthen’s other local suppliers include Matthew Stevens and Son in St Ives who supply locally caught fresh fish and seafood, Mr Meats (Newquay) Ltd who sell Cornish meat, and Cornish Coffee who supply tea and coffee.
All decked out – Pendennis Shipyard, Falmouth
As a rule, owners of multi-million-pound superyachts are not used to compromising on quality… so the supplies used by Pendennis to build and refit these astonishing vessels must meet the most rigorous standards. Thankfully, the company has no problem in sourcing many of the high quality, specialist equipment and materials it needs within easy reach of its Falmouth base. Indeed, Pendennis estimates that it has already spent over £3 million with other Cornish businesses in 2007 alone.
For Joint Managing Director Mike Carr, the availability of high quality local suppliers makes the company’s location within Cornwall a positive asset to customers.
He says: “Cornwall has a tradition of excellence, not least in the maritime industry, so it’s easy to find suppliers who share our drive for perfection – whether it’s sails and marine components, interior fabric and fittings or services like design.
“Some elements – like electrical components – can hold up the entire process if they’re not immediately available, so having our specialist suppliers on hand locally is a real plus.”
Data Protection
All information will be treated as "Commercial in Confidence" and we will safely record the information provided by you and only process it for the purpose for which it was requested. We will not pass this information to any third party unless authorised to do so, or requested to do so by law.
Funding
The Buy Cornish Local Sourcing project is supported by Rural Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Partnership Rural Renaissance Funding and the South West of England Regional Development Agency.
