On the back of his in-laws initial results selling meringues, Paul Hargreaves brought samples to London in 1991, and started to find retailers in the South-East who were prepared to stock the product. Cotswold Fayre now supplies about 90 shops and caterers with Cotswold Meringues.

It is mainly high street delicatessens and farm shops that form the large part of his clientelle, with the farm shops doing particularly well over the last couple of years. There is a growing demand for high quality food and drink that is not available in the supermarkets, and farm shops have grown in popularity over this time.

On the basis of the growing success with meringues, Paul started to source other products hand-made in the Cotswolds, and now sells fudge, jams chutneys and marmalades from Kitchen Garden Preserves, mustards from Shaken Oak products, products from Selsey Herb Company and specialist drinks from Bottle Green Drinks Co.

There is clearly a niche in the market for these kind of products, and we intend to make more locally produced goods more widely available in the future.

Contact Paul Hargreaves

Tel: 0118 946 4701