Southbourne Farm Shop was established in 1982 by Chris and Marjorie Bulbeck. Initially the farm stocked only a small range of local vegetables, with transactions made using traditional mechanical weighing scales and a notepad and pen. From these humble beginning, the shop has grown over the years, and the range has increased significantly. We now have hundreds of different suppliers, many of them based locally. The shop is now additionally run between siblings Jason, Lisa and Ben Bulbeck, and another son (Simon) supplies flowers from his own florist business. 

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The introduction of a website and a presence on social media is something that we all expect from a 21st century business, but the shop has grown in other ways too: in 2014 we opened our in-store bakery, Farmshop Bakehouse. Chris Bulbeck's son-in-law Phil is our resident baker, creating handmade artisan bread to sell exclusively in our shop every week.

 

In 2020, in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, we launched a Home Delivery Service for the elderly and vulnerable, and during the various lockdowns we delivered around 4000 orders. This ensured that our customers could continue to receive the quality service and products to which they had become accustomed.

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The recent years have seen an increased sense of urgency worldwide in reducing packaging waste, and this is reflected in the changes we have made to Southbourne Farm Shop. We are actively reducing single-use plastic waste, with the introduction in 2021 of a Zero Waste Refill Station, filled with more than 40 products. The more we can all adapt to this "new" form of shopping, the healthier our planet will be.

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2022 signified the 40th Anniversary of the business, and 2023 saw the arrival of the new on-site coffee trailer, Our Little Place. The Farm Shop has steadily grown over the years to become the shop you see today, but one thing remains constant across the decades: a commitment to provide quality, fresh produce to our valued customers.