Jamie Oliver food campaign shop to be reopened today

A SHOP opened by celebrity chef Jamie Oliver to improve eating habits in a South Yorkshire town has been refurbished, despite fears it would close.

The Ministry of Food, which was opened by Oliver in 2008 in tandem with his Channel 4 television programme, was thought to be under threat as a result of council funding cuts.

But today Rotherham Council is due to host a reopening ceremony at the shop in the town's All Saints Square, which has undergone a facelift and will offer new services.

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Until now, the authority has backed the venture which costs 130,000 a year to run but in future it is hoped that it will run as a social enterprise – a stand-alone business with a social purpose, generating its own income but investing all profits back into the operation or the community.

As part of the relaunch, a lunchtime takeaway meal of the day will be available between noon and 2pm, and all lunchtime meals will be served with an easy-to-follow step-by-step recipe.

Lisa Taylor, who manages the Ministry of Food centre in Rotherham, said: "Our priorities continue to be helping Rotherham people to improve their eating habits, and to learn more about cooking healthy food.

"The work of the centre is already bringing a huge range of other economic benefits – not least to the local suppliers from whom we source our vegetables, fish, meat and dairy products.

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"Securing accreditation as a social enterprise will reflect the hard work of the ministry team here in Rotherham in enabling the centre to stand on its own two feet.

"It will also enable us to access new funding streams."