original artwork © Ric Liptrot
Alligator Wholefoods
Independent, family run
Organic Wholefood Shop
Low waste eco-friendly shopping since 1972
104 Fishergate
York YO10 4BB
Tel: 01904 654525
Opening times:
Due to the current Covid-19 situation we have reduced our opening times:
Monday________9am - 6pm
Tuesday________9am - 6pm
Wednesday_____ _9am - 6pm
Thursday_______ _Closed
Friday__________9am - 6pm
Saturday_______ _9am - 6pm
Sunday_________Closed
Established in 1972, Alligator has been providing the people of York and the surrounding area with organic and specialist produce for nearly fifty years. Our stock includes a wide range of organic grocery items, fresh organic fruit and veg, dairy products, locally baked sourdough bread and a variety of vegan foods as well as household cleaning and body care products. Low waste is not a new invention, we have been selling unpackaged foodstuffs since we began trading (please see note about covid-19 near bottom of page) and we have been refilling eco-friendly household cleaning products ever since they appeared on the market, over twenty years ago. We also have a range of refills of shampoos, conditioners, hand wash and other body care products. We are a completely vegetarian shop and do not stock any product that has been tested on animals.
Please take a look at the pictures below. They include some of the local food producers with whom we have long established relationships.
Botton Village Creamery from the heart of the North York Moors, supply us with this delicious, creamy, organic biodynamic yoghurt made from the rich milk provided by their shorthorn cows. We also sell their great organic cheeses
Nevil grows a wide range of old English apples in Flaxton and we usually start selling his “Beauty of Bath” sometime in August and finish the season with “D’Arcy Spice” in January.
Nevil also produces several varieties of apple juice including “Asmead Kernal” and “Ribston Pippin”. Nevil’s apple juices are one of our staff and customers’ favourite products.
We get a daily delivery of sourdough breads from locally based Bluebird Bakery. Al has grown his business from small beginnings in his terraced house kitchen to a very succesfull bakery supplying his own shops and other independents like ourselves.
We get deliveries of Organic Milk and Cream from Acorn Dairies. The milk comes in various sizes including the returnable pint glass bottles as pictured above.
In the heart of the Yorkshire Wolds, Mike and Kate, like Mike’s parents before him, produce fantastic organic porridge oats, jumbo oat and various flours which we have been happily selling for many years.
Paul keeps his beehives in the nearby York Cemetery which has a wonderful variety of wild flowers and in 2019 received a Platinum Award in the Royal Horticultural Society’s Yorkshire in Bloom Competition, obviously an ideal place for the bees to collect nectar
Originating in York, Clearspot now make their Organic Tofu in premises in Malton.
Organic and local fruit and veg:
We get our main deliveries of organic fruit and veg on Tuesdays and Thursdays
We also get fruit and veg from local small scale growers as and when when available. Above are Jane and Tony’s delicious cherry tomatoes in various colours.
Jane and Tony also grow many other crops including rainbow chard, french beans, cabbages, lettuces, pumpkins, beetroot, parsley and more….
This is Ian who grows asparagus, cherry and cocktail tomatoes, courgettes, blueberries and wonderful autumn raspberries
A few things from our vegan range:
That was then……
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
Our summer worker. A student from The Netherlands who just couldn’t take the pace…
This is now…the pictures below constantly update as we add to our Instagram page…
A word about less waste and Covid-19
Ever since we began in 1972, we have sold a wide variety of unpackaged dry goods, including rice, flour, oats, muesli, beans and pulses, dried fruit, nuts and seeds, tea, coffee and herbs and spices. We believe this provides a more sustainable and environmentally friendly way of shopping, eliminating excess packaging and allowing customers to buy whatever quantity they need. Shoppers can use the paper bags provided or bring their own containers if they wish. It also keeps prices down as we can buy in bulk and pass this saving to the customer. Unfortunately, current trading conditions mean we have temporarily moved to pre-packs for many of these items. Once it is safe to do so we will of course return to selling unpackaged goods wherever possible.