COMMUNITY food club The Port Grocery has appointed entrepreneur Gordon Vickers as its patron after a year of rapid growth.

The groundbreaking project collects and diverts four tonnes of food – from the likes of Asda, Sainsbury’s and Nandos - from landfill every week.

The food is then passed on in the community shop to members as well as turned into a free weekly meal for 300 people at a weekly ‘Wednesday Welcome’ meet up at Trinity Methodist Church, Ellesmere Port.

Founder Rita Lewis will now be working closely with former Chester hotelier Mr Vickers on a long term strategy for The Port Grocery as it goes from strength to strength.

She said: “We’re over the moon that Gordon is joining our team. It’ll be like having a consultant working with us because of Gordon’s extensive business knowledge and acumen. As a serial entrepreneur he has a proven track record and we want him to point things out to us as if it was his own business. We’re also hoping to be able to use some of his contacts to grow The Port Grocery in the coming months.”

Mr Vickers earned the nickname ‘Mr Chester’ while running the Monday Wall City Jazz Club night in the city from 1957 to 1974. At the same time he was at the helm of a group and artiste agency but refused to sign The Beatles because they were “too scruffy”. He founded the Chester Hotels Association in 1978 and in 1987 he transformed a 150-year-old derelict corn mill in the centre of Chester into The Mill Hotel and Spa, which he sold in 2018.

He said: “I was very impressed when I visited The Port Grocery because it deals with local issues 100%. I decided I wanted to get more involved because what they are doing is so worthwhile. I will be helping with fundraising, bringing fresh ideas and raising awareness of the great work they do.”

The Port Grocery has grown from a five-week pilot to a seven-day a week operation run by 15 staff and 55 volunteers with the ‘Wednesday Welcome’ becoming a lifeline for hundreds of locals.

The ‘Wednesday Welcome’ also provides non-food items such as clothing and footwear donated by Aldi and free haircuts from Cheshire College hairdressing students.

Staff use two refrigerated vans to collect unwanted food from KFC, Pret a Manger and Tesco three times daily, totalling more than 150 collections a week.

The 600 food club members pay £5 a week and get £16 - £20 worth of fresh fruit and vegetables, frozen, dried, fresh and canned food from the community shop. Membership is open to all.

The Port Grocery is keen to hear from any business within a 20-mile radius of Ellesmere Port – with edible food that would normally go in the bin – to get in touch so they can recycle it.