The French ban on British beef has provoked angry reaction throughout South East Cornwall.

Among those making a stand are owners of Pensilva Stores, Terry and Vicky McCarthy, who have removed all French wines from their shelves.

On Saturday they will be holding a free barbecue and a 'tipple' of 'not for sale' French wine. They explained it is part of their protest against the French government's intransigence over British beef.

The event will last from from 11am until 4pm, while stocks last. The food will comprise: 'Good British beef steaks, sausages, and burgers,' and voluntary donations will be passed on to Cornwall Air Ambulance and the Cornish Macmillan Fund.

Livelihood

French wine is also no longer served at the Whitsand Bay Hotel, owned by the Earle family for over 35 years. Marie-Christine Earle explained: 'Our guests have been very co-operative. Once we have explained why we have removed all French wine from our establishment they have realised this is a rural community with many farmers - and British beef is their livelihood.'

She added that when they enquired about a new wine list, minus French wines, their supplier said he had had worried French wine organisations contacting him and asking about sales. He had to tell them that orders for their commodity are decreasing.

The Earles, who have also owned Sconner House for over six years and the Finnygook Inn for four years, are now promoting a Cornish product in place of champagne from the other side of the Channel - this being Camel Valley Brut, which carries a highly recommended label from the UK Vineyards Association.

British beef is still being championed at Talland Bay Hotel, although the head chef, Serge Puyal, hails from Marseilles in the south of France. Serge, of Liskeard, has worked at the hotel for a year and has lived in Britain since l981. He said he believes the French ban on beef is 'totally out of order'. He blamed it on the politicians and said it is they who 'cause the problems'.

The hotel is run by Mr and Mrs Rossier, Mrs Rossier being French. They have several other French employees, including the 2nd chef, pastry chef Pascal Andre from Brittany, and two waitresses. Beef, however, remains very much on the menu.

At the Threshers shop in Looe deputy manager, James Clark, said a number of customers had mentioned avoiding French products, including wines - and the shop was keeping an eye on the situation, to see what develops. At Oughs, the Liskeard delicatessen, manageress Tracy Crow said they are running down their stocks of French Brie, and replacing them with Somerset Brie instead. She said the shop always does try to concentrate on locally, or regionally, produced foods - and in this case they provided the answer.

The French boycott is also shaking the apple trees. At Laura Lous in Looe, proprietor Terry Miller said customers were enquiring about which products were French back in April, when their delicatessen and greengrocers first opened. He said people were definitely vearing away from French apples, preferring to buy British Cox's, and he had made a conscious decision not to order any more French fruit at the moment.

At Moores greengrocers further down the street, new owner Billy Martin said he made the decision not to order any more French Red Chief apples on Wednesday morning. 'The sale of English apples has gone right up, while French apple sales have dropped right down. I won't be ordering any more unless people want them' he said.

South East Cornwall MP, Colin Breed - who is the Liberal Democrats' shadow agricultural minister - went this week with North Devon MP, Paul Tyler, to deliver a large joint of beef to the French ambassador in London, Daniel Louis Bernard.

The meat had been bought from butcher Philip Warren in Launceston, and had been produced at a pure beef farm at Horsebridge from a herd owned by Geoffrey Lambert.

Mr Tyler said they wanted to demonstrate the goodness of British beef, and the fact that they were concerned about wider issues involving European relationships, and trade.

He said the point of the trip to the embassy was to point out that the French ban is unnecessarily souring 'the good relationship between Britain and France.'

He said he felt imports into Britain of products such as cognac, Camembert, champagne and chablis etc could be affected if British shoppers retaliate with a personally imposed ban on French foods.

He explained: 'If our supermarkets start saying to their French suppliers 'sorry, we can't sell your stuff' it will be very serious indeed.'

The supermarket chain, Somerfield, which has stores throughout South East Cornwall, has announced it is to source more food and drink from small local producers - this following a trial in the South West.

This means a wider range of local cheeses, sausages and other products will be placed on the shelves. These will be available under the Taste of the West range. Chief executive of Somerfield, David Simons, said quality, choice, originality and regionality are what customers had said they wanted.