Food and drinks team

Places to eat and drink

We’re committed to delivering tasty, great value food using fresh and where possible, local ingredients.

All our outlets are Fairtrade accredited, we use fish from sustainable sources and all our eggs are free range.

Significant purchasing for catering is with suppliers from the TUCO framework which promotes supply chain sustainability and provides extensive information, resources and networks for us to keep abreast of the latest developments in sustainable catering.

Leading locally and regionally

Our School of Environment, Natural Resources and Geography (SENRGy) takes a lead on sustainable food within the University and the region. Dr Eifiona Thomas-Lane, a Lecturer in Food Geography and Environmental Management who spearheads the initiatives, says:

Sustainability is at the heart of Bangor University’s mission. We at the School are focussed on supporting and working with food and drink producers across the region to enable them to take up green innovation and become more competitive and sustainable.”

Events such as ‘North Wales Food & Drink Goes Green’ provide opportunities for local businesses in the food and beverages sectors to discuss their commitment to developing a sustainable food industry and share particular interests such as food waste management.

Regional Food Charter

A Food Charter to develop a vision for food and food systems on campus and the region is being co-developed by Eifiona Thomas-Lane at Bangor University. As chair of Sustainable Gwynedd Social Enterprise, Eifiona established the first Food Charter for Gwynedd and Anglesey which was launched at the Eisteddfod 2012. The Food Charter is a collaborative effort between growers, producers, community food projects, statutory authorities and local/public service boards (Council and Health Board), farmers, hotels, wholesalers, shops, and the tourism sector. Rather than being a prescriptive policy statement it provides a vision for of what we want our food system to look like across our region. Work is still progressing on this Charter including ongoing community food research and a network of stakeholders.

Thomas Lane, E., Jones, R., Jones, A. & Mitchelmore, S (2016) Exploring the potential of local food and drink entrepreneurship in rural Wales. Local Economy 31: 602–618.

Campus Food Charter

During the 2017–18 academic year, Bangor University’s Catering Service, Campus Life, Undeb Bangor Students’ Union, and The Sustainability Lab will work with SENRGy’s Eifiona Thomas-Lane and her team of sustainable food experts to listen to what our students think about what good food on campus would look like, with the aim of co-developing a student-led Campus Food Charter for Bangor University.

Food waste is already a hot topic at Bangor and will be a theme in our Waste Awareness Week, visit our events listing to find out more.

PhD Studentship

One lucky student has been appointed to a PhD studentship benchmarking the sustainability of micro-brewed beer, funded by Knowledge Economy Skills Scholarships (KESS 2) in collaboration with the Food Division of the Welsh Government.

Beer value chains contribute £22 billion per year to the UK economy. Seventy micro-breweries have sprung up across Wales over the past 15 years, led by demand for product flavour, “authentic” and “local” products. The student will apply life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology to address the following questions:

  • How does the environmental footprint of Welsh micro-brewed beer compare with beer produced in larger breweries?
  • What are the consequences of Welsh beer production for regional employment and gross value added?
  • What actions can micro-brewers and the Welsh Government take to reduce the environmental footprint of beer?

Carbon footprint studies indicate that bottled beer has a footprint similar to that of milk. Raw ingredient sourcing, brewing operations, waste management, packaging and distribution choices are important determining factors. But there is a lack of rigorous evidence on the wider environmental and socio-economic performance of micro-brewed beer in comparison with beer produced in large breweries.

The PhD project will address that gap by calculating carbon, nutrient, water and land footprints, and socio-economic metrics (e.g. value added and employment) for beer value chains. Welsh craft ale will be benchmarked against beer brewed in large breweries. The student will draw on LCA expertise at Bangor University, and will work with the Food Division of the Welsh Government and industry partners to establish a micro-brewery sustainable innovation network, in order to:

  1. Benchmark the resource/environmental efficiency of Welsh micro-breweries and promote effective measures to improve them
  2. Provide validated sustainability metrics that may be used for marketing Welsh beer
  3. Underpin and promote Welsh Government policy on sustainable development of Welsh food and drink sectors

SENRGy is internationally renowned for its cross-disciplinary research on sustainable land use and food production. The student will be supervised by Dr Eifiona Thomas-Lane and Dr Dave Styles, and will benefit from a strong link to policy-makers and industry, and from being part of a wider team working on related projects.

If you want an update on this exciting work please contact:

The Food and Drink Forum

Several Food and Drink meetings and talks with external guest speakers are being organised by SENRGy this coming academic year.

One example of this is ‘Food for Life’, in collaboration with Conference Food / Campus Catering outlets which has been a regular event for many years. This year’s event will, again, be open to the public held in Thoday G23. Keep an eye out for dates in our events listings.

Other Activities

  • A PhD studying food poverty is progressing well and linked to ongoing work with wider food access and development via local social cafes and other similar organisations
  • Eifiona Thomas-Lane and her team of food sustainability experts are working to support local produce and food markets
  • Upland Food and Land Use debates will be held this academic year
  • The University is offering two new Food Geographies and Food and Drink Innovation modules for third year students starting this semester