Have A Banana Trading Co

I’ve been walking by this stall for over a year without looking twice — big, BIG, mistake. I don’t know why, but I assumed that the fruit wouldn’t be that great, and prices would be sky-​high. I locked into that assumption with the help that everyone else seemed to be walking right by it as well — if it was so great, wouldn’t there be massive lines?
It turns out, no. I’m pretty sure it’s because these people don’t eat their fruit and veg, and because mob mentality wants you to be fat.
This stall is FANTASTIC! After having one too many bland overpriced supermarket fruits, I finally checked out Have A Banana on my way home from work. I was surprised at the prices, and double-​surprised that the quality of the fruit and veg here is so great, especially when compared to those aforementioned prices. Pick-​your-​own variety of fruits 5 for a quid? Yes, please! Big, fresh, super-​sweet pineapple for only a quid? Thanks! Lots of fresh veg, roots, and herbs at a price that should be criminal? You had me at hello! (Well…I didn’t really get a hello, but Jerry Maguire was such a GREAT film, wasn’t it?)
I’m glad I’ve finally found this stall, but sad that a full year went by without my noticing how great it could be. Having corrected this now, I can say without question that this is my new stop for all my produce needs.

You know how Ronseal claims to ‘do what it says on the tin’? Well, what it says on the tin is somewhat separate to the name of the product. Referred to as Oxford’s Road’s ‘Mixed Fruits Stall’ by most, I didn’t realise it was called the Have a Banana Trading Co until our beloved stall was under threat due to developments at MMU. 2,415 people joined a Facebook group to help save it, and saved it has been. Not bad, huh? Shows how popular it is.
I constantly walk past this stall on Oxford Road in a rush to get to the Aquatics Centre, but as I didn’t have to rush back today, I took a moment to browse. I’d been drawn in by the two for £2 on their punnets of blueberries, an offer which seemed to be a longterm one, and then proceeded to be (fruit)bowled over by the value. Tenderstem broccoli, our favourite, a quid a pack. Six crunchy Braeburns, or six sweet Pink Ladies, or six of any variety of apple it seemed, bagged up and ready to go, £1. Bananas, a generous bunch, £1. I spent a mere £6 and I’ve returned with enough fruit and veg for the week.
Surrounded by students whose diets may consist of alcohol, nicotine, caffeine and the occasional kebab, we all know an affordable place like this is appealing to a market just crying out for a bit of vitamin C. You can get a great deal of fresh grocery shopping done here, and you know it’s locally sourced and ethically sound. It might be on a busy street but it’s soooo cheap and incredibly convenient. The vendors are lovely and friendly, always happy to be there in all weathers (and we know Manchester can have some harsh weathers), and they tweet too!
Shop local, buddies!

Mixed Fruits Stall is another of Manchester’s fantastic independent greengrocers stalls. It’s situated across the road from MMU Student Union and On The Eighth Day café. Even in January, a good selection of soft fruits was on show to help us through the Macunian winter of our discontent. I’m a big fan of cherries, as I find cherries always seem to be sweet and ripe, and they had nice little boxes of those. The quality and freshness of everything looks excellent.
In terms of their USP, Mixed Fruits does well on traditional Anglo-​European produce — five types of apples (including Russet and Granny Smith), sour Seville oranges for making marmalade, Rocket herb they bag down themselves (so it’s less ‘sweaty’) at £1 a bag. Here’s a recipe from Nigel Slater for 5 – 6 jars of homemade marmalade.
While you can find your avocado, fennel and pak choi here, Worldwide Foods in nearby Rusholme or McCall’s or Strawberry Garden in the city centre all have more exotics. But, as Lucy H mentions, they stock a huge range for a street stall.
Personally, I am a massive fan of stalls such as Mixed Fruits which constitute a key piece in the local food production and distribution puzzle. Let’s keep it local, folks — local farmers and greengrocers FTW!

This place could be the protest for the force uni students to eat their 5 a day. You’re walking to uni, back from uni and it’s just telling you 4 mixed fruits for a pound, there’s no excuse you alcohol and cigarette infested individual.
There’s a lot of other reasons to buy your fruit and veg from here, as they stock a hell of a lot of stuff for a side of the road joint. I pick up ginger and garlic, coriander, beanspouts, butternut squash when I feel like getting my chef on. And I can always rely on them for bananas and apples and various fruits. Watch out for some bargains when they close down when the students holiday themselves. A ginormous box of strawberries for a quid, yes please.

I’m glad the grumpy sods who vend the fruit and veg here have been alluded to. I too find them an objectionable bunch.
However, battling as an independent business against the huge chain supermarket domination that uses plantations on which slavery is abolished in name only to lower their prices and crush all other businesses, is bound to make anyone a little grumpy.
The fact that the fruit goes off fast (mentioned by both previous reviewers) seems to me a sign that its real fruit, which if you’ve ever grown or picked, you will know, doesn’t last for 6 months like a Sainsbury’s ‘banana’. Your other option is to buy organic, which is contributing to world famine by using up vast amounts of land space which could be used to feed Africa.
Good genuine fruit and veg for a good price. I wanted to review it before, but forgot, because I prefer meat.

Argh! Kirsten pipped me to the post! I, too, am a big fan of this little fruit stall, and buy from there as often as I can.
The aforementioned 5-​fer-​a-​quid deal is truly fab, and the fruit is always good-​sized. Sometimes I actually feel guilty, only handing over a quid for massive bananas and big juicy apples. Specially when a supermarket would probably sting me for £3 for the same. The fruit isn’t just good-​sized, it’s also usually nicely ripe, none of that supermarket ripen-​in-​the-​bowl crap. What you get here is an apple you can eat, like, today!
One issue (not enough to knock a star off, though) is that with this stall being right next to busy Oxford Road, you really do have to give the fruit a good wash before you eat it (as I have just realised Kirsten also points out…). Well, you don’t have to, I just always do because I don’t like the idea of bus exhaust on my peaches. Still, giving your fruit a once over under the tap isn’t much of a price to pay for fresh produce.
The veg is as good as the fruit, and though Kirsten is right in saying their produce doesn’t last as long, I find that that pushes me into doing big stews and whatnot, that I can freeze.
The fruit sellers are grumpy and occasionally quite mardy, which is nice. It reminds me of growing up in a small market town, where the weekly market was almost entirely staffed by miserable sods.

This little fruit and veg stall is located just in front of the small park next to Man Met Uni across the road from their Union building. Although it looks like a transient stall, it has been in this location for at least the past 5 and a half years.
The best deal here is the 5 fruit for £1 offer. I think it used to be 6, but times are hard! This includes apples, bananas, oranges etc and you are able to mix and match. More exotic fruits such as grapes are obviously more expensive but still cheaper than the supermarkets. They also sell bags of avocadoes, peppers etc for around a pound a pop, though you will have to eat them within a couple of days or share them out amongst your housemates as they won’t last as long as supermarket produce. They don’t sell much exotic produce — you’d be better off heading up to Worldwide in Rusholme for that.
As the stall is situated on the busiest bus route in Europe it is probably recommended to wash your produce before you eat it, though I’ve had many an apple from here on my way home, and I’m still alive.