It may have changed its name and moved to new premises three miles across the city, but it is business as usual for Barny Haughton's award-winning Bristol cookery school.

Established in 1998, it opened at the back of the old Quartier Vert restaurant on Whiteladies Road, and the cookery school spent the past five years at Bordeaux Quay in the Harbourside before moving lock, stock and barrel to a new site in the heart of Knowle West.

An increase in rent, combined with a desire to do more work in schools and the community, for which they wanted to charge the lowest possible price, meant that the cookery school moved out of the Harbourside at the end of last year and reopened last month at The Park community centre in Daventry Road.

Now renamed the Square Food Foundation, it still has the same teachers, same classes and same schedule, although teacher Claire Allen says they want the independently run cookery school to be even more relevant and accessible to a wider audience.

"We felt that moving to a premises with substantially lower overheads would free up more flexibility, space and resources for us to deliver more of this type of cookery class to schools and the community.

"It became clear that living and working within one of Bristol's strongest and longest-standing communities (as opposed to the more transient city centre) would provide a better platform for us to further expand this work."

From simple one-day courses on making perfect pastry to ten-week advance cookery courses, the Square Food Foundation caters for people with a broad spectrum of skills.

For chef and founder Barny Haughton, the new-look Square Food Foundation is an opportunity to teach people to cook nutritious, healthy seasonal food for life, not simply as a lifestyle choice.

He says: "Behind these changes lies one important difference between the Square Food Foundation and most other cookery schools, one which has directed the content of classes, the approach to teaching and the philosophy behind all our work from the very beginning.

"The difference is that we are not teaching about food as a lifestyle choice but as something which is central to the way we live. This doesn't mean that a cookery class here is going to be preachy or depressing; on the contrary it will be exciting and dynamic and fun.

"But it will have a serious and powerful subtext: we have to change the way we live, the food we eat is central to this change and not knowing how to cook isn't going to be an option.

"The good news is that this change is already happening; the future of food is already here and the Square Food Foundation is playing a leading role."

Claire Allen admits that moving from Harbourside to Knowle West has had its pros and cons.

"For some of our customers, our new location is less convenient, especially for those who work in town, and we don't benefit from the Bordeaux Quay footfall either – lots of people heard about the cookery school through eating at the restaurant below.

"But for others, it's easier to get to, there's plenty of parking and it's a bigger and better-equipped space which can accommodate larger groups at one time."

The Square Food Foundation shares the same kitchens as The Park Café, run by Barny's sister Liz. Although both businesses face plenty of challenges, the feedback so far has been overwhelmingly positive, according to Claire.

"It's going really well and the kitchen comes into its own when there's a big group in here.

"We've had some great workshops with schools, including the pupils from Stoke Bishop Primary who came in three groups of 30 over three consecutive days last week and the whole place was buzzing.

"We've had a brilliant one-day fish cookery course and lots of our popular short evening classes for adults.

"We also had a group of catering students from St. Bernadette's School who cooked an Italian menu to complement their international-themed project, as well as a group of young people from Groundwork SW (a charity that does work with young people around the environment) baking chocolate fudge cakes, rhubarb crumble squares and cheese and onion soda bread – and eating it all!"

Occupying the site of the former Merrywood Boys' School, The Park was transferred from Bristol City Council to the Park Charitable Trust in October 2011.

The board of trustees were initially focussed on getting the café back up and running in the old school kitchen, but the Trust refurbished the old school kitchen into a cookery school to enable the Square Food Foundation to start operating immediately after Christmas.

For an independently-run cookery school funded by its courses, such an act of generosity from the Trust has enabled the Square Food Foundation to keep prices down.

The cookery school is funded by its courses but it has always offered workshops and courses at cost price for community-led groups and schools.

Barny says: "Of course, we need more money to develop programmes – a chef's apprenticeship scheme is one project we are currently working on in conjunction with some of Bristol's leading chefs and restaurants and which will need some kind of grant funding or other form of financial support.

"But we are confident that once Bristol folk, the business community, Bristol schools, the many food and community initiatives and, of course, the local food producers, growers, retailers and markets can see what we are doing, we will get the support we need to develop and expand our work."

The cookery school has built strong links with schools over the years and now that it has moved to larger premises, it plans to become more involved with other community food projects.

Says Claire: "There are so many fantastic and energetic food projects in Bristol, not least of all community kitchens which manage to offer cookery classes to local people at a tiny cost.

"The Square Food Foundation is only one small element of Bristol's food network but we have this brilliant facility that's really well-equipped, staffed by a team of experienced teachers.

"We already have strong links with lots of Bristol's schools, colleges and universities. As well as maintaining these links, we'd like to make new connections with other schools and to help increase young people's enthusiasm for cooking and eating, and encourage more young people to cook both at school and at home.

"We think food should be given a more prominent place in schools and think we can play a part in bringing it to the fore, both in terms of what students eat and what they learn.

"Ordinarily, we design and deliver programmes to meet a school's requirements – whether they are part of a Healthy Schools week, or a French week, for example.

"Stoke Bishop Primary's project was chocolate – they made a 'stripy cat' (soda bread with chocolate chips) and melting choc puddings which they ate after they'd had their packed lunches in the café.

"As well as one-off classes, we've delivered longer-term (12-week) courses to secondary schools, workshops for students at the University of Bristol, for teachers and for school cooks, too.

"There's so much going on already at the Square Food Foundation and we're looking forward to a busy and exciting time ahead."

Square Food Foundation Daventry Road, Knowle West, Bristol, BS4 1DQ. For information about courses at the Square Food Foundation, call 0117 9046679 or visit www.square foodfoundation.co.uk.