St Mark’s road in Easton is a particularly lively place with some superb shops and cafes and a bustling vibrant community that adds massively to Bristol’s charm and vitality. And right in the middle is probably the largest and best known shop on the street, the famous Bristol Sweetmart.

Packed full of a vast array of mostly vegan produce including a huge range of fruit, veg and fresh herbs and spices, plus groceries, ready meals, pulses, no less than 84 different chilli sauces and over 100 Bombay mixes – who said the vegan lifestyle is dull? Not here, that’s for sure. In fact, it’s the complete opposite.

We are encouraging a healthy vegan lifestyle’ says the owner Abdul, ‘and we are encouraging people to eat less meat, less butter and dairy and more fresh fruit and veg – the Mediterranean approach, if you like. And of course, best prices and freshest produce guaranteed.

The array of produce is visually awesome, and the shop has a fresh, airy feel to it despite the shelves stacked to the ceiling. And with a little looking around, all sorts of fascinating options turn up – check out the homemade frozen ready meals freezer, for instance, where you will find such mouth watering delicacies as Wuruga – Sweetcorn in Peanut Sauce – or Matoke, an original Ugandan dish of mashed green bananas, alongside many others. Abdul and his family first came to Bristol in 1972, escaping the terrors of the Idi Amin regime to build a new life over here, and they opened the shop way back in 1978. Since then it has grown to include a large wholesale operation, including supplying over 120 restaurants in the South West area with specialist ingredients, and they are a huge part of their local community. Absolutely fantastic and absolutely well worth a visit to this lovely family enterprise.

Sweetmart - Best Deli's.