A NEW zero waste vegan deli which champions the plastic free movement has opened its doors in Kendal to an ‘overwhelmingly’ positive response.

Eloise Healy is the woman behind Blackhall Yard’s ‘Food Nude’.

Inside, customers will find dispensers filled with everything from rice, pulses, beans, cereals, fruits, seeds, herbs and spices. They can choose their products and then pay by weight.

And there are non-food items on offer, including laundry products, shampoo and conditioner, toothbrushes and toothpaste.

“It’s the way I wanted to shop,” Eloise, who also runs the yard’s Retro Circus, explained. “It’s quite a big movement at the moment and with myself wanting to shop that way, it just makes sense to have something like this in Kendal.

“I’ve stocked the shop in a way that is solving the plastic problem. So I haven’t stocked flours and things like that that don’t necessarily have a plastic issue.”

The shop also offers a fully vegan food and drinks menu. It changes daily but has included a vegan hot dog, burger and curry as well as sweet treats.

There has been an increased awareness around the damaging impact of plastic waste following the airing of the final episode of Blue Planet II.

Presenter David Attenborough delivered a rallying call, explaining that we need to do more to protect the environment.

“It just makes sense for everybody,” Eloise said. “Has it become to easy too just open your bin lid and throw things in and not think about where it’s going?”

Although the shop only opened at the weekend, Eloise has found that there is an appetite to go plastic free.

“It’s overwhelming to be honest with you,” she said. “It’s been very positive. It’s been lovely to see that people are shaping things in their homes around the shop. People have come in and asked ‘what can I have?’”

She added that it was ‘lovely’ to see children coming in with their parents and engaging in the buying process.

“The most rewarding thing is that people are going home and changing what is going on in their kitchen,” Eloise said.