Princesshay honey creating a buzz

Princesshay’s 45,000 bees have been busily producing honey for the shoppers of Exeter over the spring and summer months. The delicious golden honey is now available to buy from Chandos Deli in Princesshay, each purchase raises money for charity.

Over 100lbs of honey has been extracted from the five hives housed on the rooftop city garden in Princesshay. The diverse variety of expertly chosen fruit trees and bee friendly flowering plants has contributed to the honey’s sweet yet floral taste.

The introduction of the honey bees was part of an environmental initiative championed by joint landlords Land Securities and The Crown Estate in 2013. Forming part of a biodiversity strategy, Princesshay is one of the first shopping centres in the Land Securities portfolio to launch a City Bee project.

Princesshay honey is available to buy from Chandos Deli. A small tasting jar can be purchased for £1.50 and the sharing jar for £4.99. Proceeds from the sale of the Princesshay honey will be shared between Princesshay’s local charity of the year, Dream-A-Way and Land Securities charity of the year, Mencap.

Jeff Merrett of Dream-A-Way has been attending the bee keeping classes with Bee Keeping Consultant Jason Wallis from WeeTree Nurseries and has been actively involved with the keeping of the Princesshay bees.

Jeff said: “I’m thrilled to have been able to get so involved with City Bee project. Jason from Wee Tree Nurseries has been a great teacher and it’s been fantastic to share this experience with Andy Littlejohns, the Operations Manager at Princesshay, who’s also the driving force of this initiative. We’re delighted that Princesshay is donating some of the proceeds to Dream-A-Way. The money raised will truly help our families to experience new opportunities and quality family time together.”

Jason Wallis from WeeTree Nurseries said: “The bumper harvest of the honey produced by the Princesshay bees has been fantastic. I’m so pleased with the quality and success of the initiative. I’m really excited to start working with the Princesshay team on next year’s Queen Bee rearing project”

Queen bees have been introduced to the colonies at Princesshay in the past two years. The project will expand in 2015 with the team aiming to rear its own queen bees. A small nucleus hive will be created to allow the production of queen bee cells. The queen bee will then be separated into a small colony and will eventually be introduced into a larger colony for the working bees to serve and collect pollen and nectar for the production of honey.

Andy Littlejohns, Princesshay’s Operation Manager said: “It’s great to see the honey on sale in Chandos Deli. We hope the shoppers of Princesshay will come and try it and of course buy some! The proceeds are going to two great charities.”

The project has created a real buzz amongst local artists, photographers, journalists and schools. Princesshay’s shops and restaurants are also proud of the project and anyone else looking to get involved next year should contact Princesshay Centre Management on 01392 459838.