Walking into Bill's is like walking into a magician's cave. If Hogwarts had a grocery, it might look a bit like the Lewes produce store and cafe.

Bunches of herbs hang from the ceiling. Fruit, exotic vegetables and flowers are stacked up outside, and an array of alluringly colourful cakes and pies stand on the counter.

The unique appeal of Bill's is that you're able to eat your food surrounded by the produce that goes into it. Like a proper old-fashioned grocery, it's a community hub – people come in, chat to the staff and become regulars. A long table runs down the centre of the store, where diners and shoppers, taking a break, can rest their feet.

Operations Manager Iain Hendry says that the store's friendliness is integral to its atmosphere.

“It's quite funny watching people, sometimes,” he says. “When they realise they've got to sit down at a big table with strangers, they go all British and reserved at first but then they actually start to chat to each other. It's really nice to see.”

Bill's has only existed in its present form since the Lewes floods of 2000. When the basement of Bill's grocery filled with four feet of water, he turned the situation around by buying up the shop next door, refurbishing it and opening the cafe and servery.

“He really just wanted to put some of the great ingredients form the shop into proper dishes,” says Iain. “It has developed to the stage where in the future we would like to do some recipe cards.

“We're also hoping to expand to other sites in Sussex .”

Tasty quiches such as bacon, tarragon, cherry tomato and cheddar or asparagus, peas, spring onion and cherry tomatoes are £4.95 with salad to eat in and are also available to take home. There's also a big range of pies and cakes.

Other dishes include pure comfort food like fish-finger sandwich (£4.95) or a steak sandwich with varied fillings like beetroot and horseradish (£5.50). They even do boiled eggs with toast and soldiers. Puddings all cost around £3.95 and range from white and dark chocolate delice to French apple tart.

Like any good delicatessen, what makes Bill's special is the quality of its produce. As we become increasingly disillusioned with big supermarkets, it's becoming obvious that enormous warehouses stocked with products do not necessarily equate to a wide choice of food.

“I think this has come full circle,” says Iain. “You see big shops which are linked to celebrities like Jamie Oliver – Jamie will talk in the adverts about making dishes with exciting things like purple potatoes, but when do you actually ever go into Sainsburys and find a purple potato?

“We can supply things like Thai fingernail cucumbers that you really won't find in Supermarkets.

“I think when people find somewhere like us or a really good butcher's shop, they come back and don't mind paying a bit more then supermarket prices.”