Inside The Plot - Union Street's new international food paradise
The latest project by Nudge Community Builders has started with food vendors and could continue with you
Peter ChapmanCommunity Reporter
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It takes a mere fifteen footsteps in Stonehouse to sample a flavoursome feast from around the globe, if you know where to look.
This continental food court has popped up on Union Street and your taste buds can travel from Thailand to Nigeria while your legs have the day off.
You can find it at the back end of yet another glorious building on the famous Plymouth street with a new lease of life.
This property particular was apparently a post-war branch of Currys, the electrical goods store. As well as a YMCA centre, once upon a time.
More recently it's been a discount furniture shop, before Hope for the Homeless took in and sold items from there for charity.
Now, it's the latest project by Nudge Community Builders, who were heavily involved in delivering the Union Street Party last weekend.
It's called The Plot, and it's another Stonehouse space taken on by them, for you.
The Plot on Union Street is the latest unloved building to receive a Nudge
They've taken it on because it was moving from one use to another without getting the care it needed.
Years of neglect have been cleaned and scrubbed away, replaced with a vast, vibrant area, hopefully soon to be full of people presenting their own projects.
If you're interested, you can pop in to discuss your ideas. Maybe it's that business you always wanted to start, or a service you always wanted to provide.
And, if you nip in for a chat, you must stay for the food. But be warned, once it's gone, it's gone.
Diversity Business Incubator were the first to move in. They've taken up the back to create an international food court filled with BAME entrepreneurs.
Here are the vendors who have bet on themselves, and want to share something they love with you.
Try Thai
Cooked fresh in front of your eyes
Thai street food. Tell me three better syllables to hear when you're hungry, I'll wait.
Actually, I didn't have to wait. Before I'd even introduced myself there was a tray of banana fritters with my name on it.
It's just like you eat in Thailand, she said. And of course there will be cynics amongst you.
Her nickname is Champu, which she uses to help out us English. It's pronounced like 'shampoo' and her delicious operation is helped behind the scenes by her partner Damien.
She calls him her conditioner.
Champu didn't learn to cook in Thailand, where she's from. When she was in Thailand she'd never cook because it was so cheap to eat out.
She didn't enjoy our offerings when she moved here in 2001. But she missed home, so family and friends started teaching her recipes over the phone.
Champu sent me packing with some springs rolls, I'll be back for more.
Elizabeth Tsegay
Elizabeth had packed up as I arrived, but kindly agreed to pose in her trailer
Elizabeth is from Eritrea and if you're not familiar with her home country, it borders Ethiopia and Sudan in east Africa, with some Italian influence along the way.
The same can be said of her food.
While it is Eritrean cooking at heart, she's fully comfortable with a broader Mediterranean style as well as adopting traits of Ethiopian and Sudanese cuisine.
It's spicy, similar to Indian flavour profiles. A pancake-style dish made with fermented flour is a popular treat.
It's called injera, and I was too late to try one. That wasn't the case for many of you at the Union Street Party.
According to Elizabeth, people kept coming back to her van two or three times, which of course made her happy. I guess I missed out.
Plymouth Jollof Kitchen
I didn't make it in time for Plymouth Jollof Kitchen. You have to be quick to catch these vendors before they sell out
Like I said, when it's gone, it's gone. Plymouth Jollof Kitchen had sold out and packed up before I arrived. I didn't even get to chat.
That was at 2pm, when usual hours tend to be 10am-4pm for the food vendors. You really have to time it right, they're starting to get a following already.
They specialise in Nigerian food and I believe they were also a big hit at the street party.
Even if you just want a beverage, there's a stall selling local coffee, from Ivybridge roasters Owens. You can grab a soft drink too.
A benefit of having close ties with these start-ups is being able to call upon tried and tested people to cater for events.
The idea is sharing and combining resources and skills. Although, it's still early days, and there's nothing to share the big, green, empty room with.
Except the old sign from The Two Trees pub, and Walter.
Walter the woolly rhino, based on remains found nearby around a century ago
He's a woolly rhino, based on a specimen found in Stonehouse during the 1930s, which was sadly destroyed in the war.
I don't know who 'Michelle next door' is, but she picked the name. Perfect.
This project is similar to another Nudge project, The Clipper, in that it's there for this community to engage with and make what they want of it.
Nudge co-director Wendy Hart said: "We're excited about socially minded businesses and the cross pollination.
"Simply by saying hello to each other every day, you'll want to get to know each other.
"Down the line there's talk of an organisation moving in who are thinking about starting a printing business.
"That'll come in handy for any other independents at The Plot who may need some work done.
"The Mountain Bike Collective have already parked up. They're a community interest company with two aims.
"They've got a chance to meet and help more young people through this venture."
The project's name 'The Plot' is no accident, they want this to be an allotment where businesses can grow. Hopefully, operating out of individual sheds.
Your business or idea could have the chance to grow at The Plot
Keeping with the theme you'll notice a greenhouse upon entering the building. That has turned into a Nudge office but was previously used as part of a fantastic initiative.
Stonehouse ranked remarkably low on a national scale for physical and mental health. A project working out of The Plot helped local people to have conversations about this.
It also gave them access to health advice and the ability to book appointments as many were left behind without technology or internet access.
A kit list was provided by the University of Plymouth and installed by a local businesses, it provided free Wi-Fi for Union Street, until a seagull decided otherwise.
In conjunction with Borrow Don't Buy, old tablets and smart phones were also recycled for families in the area who needed them.
Amazing work at a time where being connected has never been more important. Read more about the project here.
If you want to get involved, you're welcome to drop in. Track and trace is in operation and the huge, open space means it's easy to keep apart.
Alternatively, you can email - hello@nudge.community
Some final words from Wendy: "Were up for anything, just so long as the people who move in think about what they're going to give back to this community.
"It's not simply about making money, it's about what opportunities and resources are in their gift.
"Could they employ a local person? Or train someone? It's anything and everything.
"It's the beauty of having partnerships. If you've got resources and I have too, they're so much stronger if we put them together. It's as simple as that."
Plymouth Together