Arkleston Farm Shop & Kitchen: from fields to forks

With an admirable ethos in tow, Arkleston Farm Shop & Kitchen is about to change the produce game in Paisley 

These days, convenience has been the biggest obstacle that people face to getting the best out of local food and drink. However, what we often sacrifice for that ease and efficiency is quality and a sense of where what you’re putting into your body comes from. 

However, those in Paisley are about to be served up an antidote in the form of Arkleston Farm Shop & Kitchen. 

Fresh from converting an agricultural building into something that meets their needs, Angela and Ruaridh Smith are offering locals a new way of interacting with those who are putting in the hard yards day in, day out to keep the nation stocked. What’s more, they’ll also be providing new flavours and products that you won’t get anywhere else. 

“It’s been about 18 months from talking to the architects to where we are now,” Angela said of the project. From start to finish, everyone has got it and dialled into the ethos behind it all. 

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“We had another business at the farm for 12 years before deciding to retire. There had always been plans to maybe do a farm shop, but they were put on the backburner because everything else we were doing was so intensive. Then, my husband and I retired. But, after about eighteen months, we were so incredibly bored that we thought we better have something to get up for in the morning (laughs).” 

To say that they’ve found that reason is an understatement, with Angela and Ruaridh re-energised by this new venture which not only encompasses a shop and café, but is an enthusiastically received salute to those unsung heroes in the fields. 

Photo by Karen Honeyman

“Where possible, we’re using local produce, if not Scottish, but there are a couple things that come down south from family farms too. Ultimately, farmers are who we always want to support. It’s all independent, you won’t find anything that we stock in a supermarket!

“The response has been very positive, people are looking for something that has provenance and they know where it’s come from. Supermarkets have their place, but this is just something a wee bit different and more personal. You’ll know where things come from, there’s a story and a family behind every product so that’s very important to us and all of our staff.” 

Arkleston Road, Paisley PA3 4JB, visit the website.