Melton food and drink businesses up for awards

Staff at The Hammer and Pincers, at Wymeswold, show off their award for winning Fine Dining Restaurant of the Year for 2019/20 at the Great Food Club awards EMN-200923-133539001

More than 6,000 people across the East Midlands have voted in the Great Food Club Awards 2020/21.

Shortlists were drawn up from the votes and the judging panel has been visiting each of the finalists anonymously to test cooking, service, facilities and ethos before the winners are announced online on October 15.

Two of the local finalists - March House Farm Shop at Great Dalby and Northfield Farm at Cold Overton - will compete for the ‘Farm Shop’ award.

Manor Farm Yoghurt of Thrussington is up for ‘Food Producer’ and Cold Overton’s Gates’ Farm Shop for ‘Food Shop’.

Two local pubs are in the running for accolades.

The Stag and Hounds at Burrough-on-the-Hill is shortlisted for ‘Dining Pub’ and Croxton Kerrial’s The Geese and Fountain for ‘Classic Pub’.

Apteeki, at Melton, is nominated for ‘Cafe’ while Thrussington Village Shop is up for the new category of ‘Small Deli’.

One of the ‘Drink Producer’ contenders is Brentingby Gin and there are nominations for the new class of ‘Street Food’ for two Melton businesses, Feast and the Furious and also Chez Sebastien Artisan Pizza.

Organiser and Great Food Club founder Matt Wright, who lives in Melton, said: “The response has been amazing.

“Everyone has been so supportive of their local businesses during this period and it really demonstrates how important these independent establishments are to people, from the local baker and butcher to the local pub.

“We chose the finalists after counting and analysing all the votes and also took the decision to exclude last year’s winners so that we could highlight a greater number of exceptional businesses within a 40-mile radius of our base in Melton Mowbray.”

Danny Jimminson, owner of the Hammer and Pincers, in Wymeswold, which last year won the ‘Fine-Dining Restaurant of the Year’ crown, highlighted the kudos of being recognised in the awards. He said: “The judging is a combination of public votes and anonymous judging, so it’s tough to win. Getting last year’s title was one of the highlights of our year.”