AirSpace Green - City Centre Planters adopted by Tsp and Zest

AirSpace Green is a series of projects which sees the gallery engaging with spaces in the city for nature:

For a while now, AirSpace Gallery has been embarking on a series of varied greenspace projects in the city. Exercises in placemaking and community involvement, and an awareness of the importance of a city's green eco-system have informed these projects and so far has seen the creation of a publicly-accessible Bird Yarden at the back of the Gallery and the acclaimed Spode Rose Garden, along with the creation of a special rose - the Spode China Rose.

Three further projects are being launched this week under the banner of AirSpace Green, including developing a series of garden green spaces - running a city centre gardening club for residents of The Portland Street Area, collaborating with city centre businesses to explore alternatives to the usual food sources, looking at ways to reduce food miles, and explore ethical and environmentally sustainable methods of growing food and working with The Friends of Hanley Park and Stoke's branch of the Womens' Institute, Let's Make Jam to develop a Bee Friendly Garden in Hanley Park.

3 City Centre Planters have been installed in the Gallery Yard and in front of the Gallery atop our brand new steps. One will be used by us to grow ingredients for the Gallery's Soup Kitchen Series, while the other two have been adopted by 2 city centre cafe's - Tsp and Zest Cafe and Bistro.

 

 

We consulted with both businesses to find out which particular plants they would like to grow, for use in their menus and looked to start them off with some initial planting. From here they will take on ownership and management of the planters, hopefully providing them with plenty of foodstuffs for the next few months and years.

Tsp is a small, independent coffee shop in the heart of the Cultural Quarter. Tsp are an ethical, people and planet friendly business, who will use their growing pod in their everyday menu, lending a sustainable and ecologically sound strand to the business. Pop in and try their delicious cakes and coffee.





Zest Cafe and Bistro on Piccadilly always use fresh ingredients, and are committed to using locally sourced food wherever possible. Everything is always cooked fresh to order, meaning the customer has a great experience every time. Zest will be using the ingredients grown in the planter within the cafe and bistro, so pop in to try something from the menu.




This project has been supported by a grant from the Sustainable Food City scheme organised by Middleport Environment Centre on behalf of Stoke-on-Trent City Council.