The Long Table (pay-what-you-can meals in Gloucestershire)

The Long Table (Stroud and Cirencester, Gloucestershire) is an award-winning social enterprise. It serves local seasonal food that is donated from local shops and allotments, to feed people with mostly plant-based meals, that also supports local farmers.

Read our post on food safety for people and pets. If growing food on allotments etc, read our posts on pet-friendly gardening and no-dig gardening (avoid netting to protect wildlife). 

Founded by two friends who shared a mutual dismay of how society is ‘doing food badly’ and leaving people unwell and lonely (in a country where a third of all food grown and made is never eaten) they decided to do something to help.

The meals are offered on pay-what-you-can donation, with money given used to invest in pay-what-you-want cafes and a Teenage Kitchen (one student has already found a job as a baker at a local farm shop, proving this model is also creating stable full-time jobs).

Each month, the organisation publishes its standard meal cost (in February 2024 this was £9.30). But if you can’t afford that, it’s okay.

It’s just a guide to show how much it costs to make a meal, you will never be charged any more than this, even if you can afford it. But of course you can choose to pay a little more, which helps The Long Table offer more meals for free or less cost.