Fairtrade Fortnight

Fairtrade Fortnight runs across Portsmouth and Havant from Monday 21 September to Sunday 4 October, with a long list of coffee mornings, tea tastings and breakfasts spread across the city and over in Havant. It's the biggest date in the UK calendar for fair trade, and Portsmouth has been a certified Fairtrade City since March 2004 — a status it has to renew every two years, and one it celebrated two decades of back in 2024. The city's Fairtrade Forum works with Portsmouth City Council to keep things moving locally, while the Fairtrade Foundation itself is a charity that partners with international producers to improve trading conditions in developing countries.

This year's theme is 'Do it Fair - for People, for Planet and for Fair Pay', and it puts a spotlight on how choosing Fairtrade can make a real difference. It comes at a time when the global food system remains unfair, with farmers often forced to sell crops for less than they cost to grow, while the climate crisis makes conditions even harder. The movement has given farmers the power to drive positive change in their communities for more than 30 years, and it's the world's most recognised and trusted ethical label.

The programme is spread out, so you can pick and choose. There's tea tasting with Chat Over Chai at the Havelock Centre in Southsea on 24 September, and a Fairtrade coffee morning at the Peace Centre in Havant on 25 September from 10.30am to 12pm. On 27 September, there's tea at Christ Church, Milton United Reformed Church, from 4pm. On 29 September, Coop Funeralcare in Havant hosts a Members' Cuppa and Fairtrade tea tasting for Macmillan Cancer Care from 10am to 12pm. On 2 October, a Fairtrade stall opens at Cascades Shopping Centre from 9am, followed by a coffee morning at St Faith's Church in Havant on 3 October.

Sunday 4 October is a big one: there's a Fairtrade breakfast at St Thomas Cathedral after each morning service (8am, 9.30am and 11am), and another Fairtrade breakfast at St Wilfrid's Church in Cowplain from 10am to 11am — that one's free and needs no booking. The whole thing wraps up with the Lord Mayor's Coffee Morning at Portsmouth Guildhall on 6 October, and running all week, there's a Fairtrade Trail through Southsea.