Meet the Leeds lads behind the Yorkshire Mushroom Emporium that’s starred on Hairy Bikers: Go Local

Yorkshire Mushroom Emporium (YMA) was founded in January 2021 by five friends from school, following a lockdown walk exploring community gardening projects across the city. James Collin, Niall Johnson, Ed Elcock, Jonny Lines and Callum Doherty wanted to be part of the revolution in the food system - making it more sustainable and regenerative.

After visiting Kirkstall Valley Farm, the Bedford Fields permaculture garden and community gardening organisation Hyde Park Source, the friends began bouncing around ideas for a project of their own - from growing microgreens to salad crops - before eventually landing on mushrooms.

James, 27, told the Yorkshire Evening Post: “Seeing the different projects got a lot of conversations started. We wanted to do something sustainable and local that would cut down the air miles on food. Mushrooms ticked a lot of boxes.”

After growing mushrooms in their homes and quickly running out of space, the friends secured a loan of Callum’s mum’s garage in Ilkley, rent-free for 12 months, where they developed a tiny indoor mushroom farm - supplying cafes and restaurants across Ilkley and Leeds.

Later that year, they were approached to appear on Hairy Bikers: Go Local, as the TV chefs matched innovative local suppliers to the best restaurants in the region. The Yorkshire episode, which aired last month, saw Dave and Si visit the YMA garage and come away with mushrooms to supply to Indian restaurant Prashad.

Niall, also 27, said: “They were really genuine. You see them on TV and when you meet them, it feels like you know them already. It was totally seamless and they seemed genuinely interested in what we were doing. They gave us lots of advice.”

Jonny and Callum have since departed the business, but the remaining trio have expanded - moving to a much larger site just off York Road where they grow a range of gourmet and medicinal mushrooms and sell grow-your-own mushroom kits online. As well as supplying restaurants across Leeds, including Prashad, YMA’s main revenue source is markets.

Customers will soon be able to collect YMA mushrooms from artisan bakery Leeds Bread Co-op and a partnership with grocery delivery business Leeds Veg Box is on the horizon.

And Ed, Niall and James, who all still hold down day jobs, have ambitious plans for the future. The goal is to build up different growing enterprises, as well as space for education, social events and even a cafe or restaurant of their own.

“It’s very exciting,” Niall said. “There’s a real sense of achievement when you see progression and overcome hurdles, and come up with solutions. There’s lots of ways to be creative, whether that’s creative in terms of social media and things you put out, or finding creative and practical solutions to problems. I like that you get to do a variety of lots of different things that you might not get to do normally in your work.”

“And it’s come from nothing,” James added. “Looking back and seeing the progression is amazing - the Hairy Bikers show was a good chance to do that.”