02 Nov Awards Night Culminates the 15th Year of the Weetabix Northamptonshire Food & Drink Awards 2023/24

With Northamptonshire’s growing success in the Food & Drink sector this year, there has been probably the toughest competition yet when it comes to finding winners across all 19 categories at the awards.  Celebrating our ‘Community’, local ‘Champions’ and ‘Culinary’ expertise, Stuart Branch, Chief People and Digital Officer for Weetabix, said, Weetabix is delighted to be headline sponsor for the fourth year running, especially as aspects of sustainability are included in every category. Sustainability is in our DNA at Weetabix and so important to our local communities, our customers, and our consumers. We are delighted that this ethos is shared amongst the brilliant people and businesses that come together through the awards process and are extremely proud to support Rachel and the team to ensure that those who achieve Gold, Silver and Bronze in each category receive the recognition they deserve as we know that they have worked so hard to achieve it. These awards not only provide us with an opportunity to recognise our amazing Weetabix Growers’ group of farmers but also to celebrate the brilliant businesses from around the county, giving us the opportunity to learn from each other, taking inspiration from the innovation, creativity, and ambition in this space.”  With 101 finalists and over 500 hours of volunteer judging taken place, this has to be one of the most supported events in the 15 years of having the awards.

The menu served by Portfolio Events included some wonderful examples of Northamptonshire food and drink including Dovely Bakery Rose Cottage multi seed loaf, Hamm Tun Fine Foods’ Northamptonshire blue cheese, Urban Microgreen mixed salad, New Lodge Vineyard Chilli Honey dressing, Three Hills Brewery Heidrun Session NEIPA, Eat Curious vegan Wellington, and Boughton House honey.

As sponsors of this year’s Gastro Pub of the Year and Young Chef of the Year awards, Booker were delighted with the calibre of entries: “It is fantastic to see such brilliant talent at Weetabix Northamptonshire Food & Drink Awards in the Booker Gastro Pub & Booker Young Chef categories. Booker is really proud to be sponsoring both categories. It has been a hard time for the industry which is why it is even more important to get behind these fantastic local companies to allow them to keep bringing brilliant food and drink to their communities and to help encourage employment for the sector. All companies and the young chefs should be proud of their achievements and Booker will continue to offer the choice, prices, and services this sector requires while also continuing to support young chefs coming into the sector.” Darren Bown – Customer Director, Catering at Booker.

The results are as follows:

Artisan Local Drink of the Year, sponsored by J Sweeney Accountants

GOLD – Club 80 Navy Strength London Dry Gin, Silverstone Distillery

SILVER – Blueberry Juice, Mee Blueberries

SILVER – Oat Drink, Wild & Furrow

BRONZE – Heidrun Session NEIPA, Three Hills Brewing Ltd

BRONZE – Phipps Foundry Mild, Phipps Northampton Brewery Co Ltd

BRONZE – Paw Another, Bearly Organised Ltd

BRONZE – Winwick Hall Methode Champenoise, Winwick Hall Bruce Green Limited

Artisan Local Product of the Year, sponsored by Heygates

GOLD – Coffee Ice Cream, Your Cool

SILVER – Boughton Estate Homemade Honey, The Boughton Estate

SILVER – Shoetown Blue, Hamm Tun Fine Foods

BRONZE – Lemon Curd, Friars Farm

BRONZE – New Lodge Vineyard Chili Honey, Made by the Beekeeper

BRONZE – Northampton Cheesecake, F.F Tee Bakery

BRONZE – Steak Pasty, Duston Village Bakery

Artisan Local Vegetarian/Vegan Product of the Year, sponsored by Daily Bread

GOLD – Strawberry & Rose Cake, Mill House – The Old Stable Yard Tea Room

SILVER – Carrot, Parsnip & Pecan Cake, Sophisticake Creations

SILVER – Northamptonshire Blue, Hamm Tun Fine Foods

BRONZE – Fresh Oyster Mushrooms, Shoots & Spores

BRONZE – Harrington Wild Garlic Butter, The Tollemache Arms

BRONZE – Rose Cottage Multi Seed Loaf, Dovely Bakery

BRONZE – Salad Mix, Urban Microgreens

Booker Gastro Pub of the Year, sponsored by Booker

GOLD – The Tollemache Arms, Harrington

SILVER – The Rose & Crown, Yardley Hastings

SILVER – The Sheaf Inn, West Haddon

SILVER – The Kings Arms, Polebrook

BRONZE – The Old Talbot, Potterspury

Booker Young Chef of the Year, sponsored by Booker

GOLD – Jade Walter – Rushton Hall Hotel & Spa

SILVER – Thomas  Giles – The Falcon Hotel, Castle Ashby

BRONZE – Harvey Tapp – The Snooty Fox, Lowick

BRONZE – Levi Moukan – The Falcon, Fotheringhay

Canape of the Year, sponsored by Portfolio Events

Kamil Podgorski, Northampton College

Community Café of the Year, sponsored by The Good Loaf, and The Health and Wellbeing services at West Northamptonshire Council

GOLD – Bennett’s, Thrapston

SILVER – Bob’s Corby, Corby

SILVER – Polo Pavilion Tea Room, Winwick

BRONZE – Happy Mondays, Rushden

BRONZE – A Place to Bee, Kingsthorpe

CERTIFICATE OF MERIT – Lavender Bee Tea Room, Kettering

Event Venue of the Year, sponsored by Hilton Garden Inn

GOLD – Silverstone Circuits Ltd

CRYSTAL – The Granary at Fawsley

SILVER – Kelmarsh Hall & Gardens

SILVER – Kettering Park Hotel & Spa

SILVER – Rushton Hall Hotel & Spa

BRONZE – Furtho Manor Farm

Farming Environment Award, sponsored by Weetabix

GOLD – J.A. Knight & Sons

SILVER – Courteenhall

SILVER – Wold Farm

BRONZE – J.E Atkinson & Son

BRONZE – White House Farm

Certificate of Merit – Stetchworth Estate Farm

F&B Achiever of the Year, sponsored by Howes Percival

GOLD – Joe Buckley, The Tollemache Arms

GOLD – Eddie & James White, Whites of Earls Barton

BRONZE – Glenn Newman, The Granary, Fawsley, Daventry, and The Waterside Café at Northampton Active, Northampton

BRONZE – Steve Reid, Northampton Cheese Co., Northampton Charcuterie Co., and Friars Farm, Northampton

BRONZE – Jo & Nigel Wagstaff, Houghton Hams

Food and Drink College Student of the Year, sponsored by University of Northampton

GOLD – Cohen O’Dell, Northampton College

SILVER – Thomas Walshaw, Moulton College

SILVER – Cara Payne, Northampton College

BRONZE – Chloe Matthews, Moulton College

BRONZE – Alex Mundey, Tresham College, Corby

BRONZE – Dante Newman, Tresham College, Corby

Healthy Food and Wellbeing of the Year, sponsored by Delapre Abbey

Producers:

GOLD – Mango Explosion Granola, Salma Soulful

SILVER – Organic Wheatgrass Juice, Britt’s Superfoods

BRONZE – Chocolate Super Shake, Nasty Vegan

BRONZE – Bresaola, Northampton Charcuterie Company

BRONZE – Carrot Cookies, The Loving Chef

Workplace:

GOLD – Sol Laug Haven

SILVER – Weatherbys

BRONZE – Silverstone Circuits Ltd

Local Food Hero of the Year, sponsored by Moulton College

GOLD – Rick Sharpe, The Roaming Artisan

SILVER – Milly Fyfe

SILVER – Claire Gurney, The Shack Food Project

BRONZE – Narinder Hammond, Skittles Community Shop

One to Watch, sponsored by Whitworth Bros. Ltd.

GOLD – Restaurant Ember

GOLD – Santina’s Wood Fired Pizza Co.

SILVER – Nasty Vegan

BRONZE – Butterwick Bakery

BRONZE – Royal Oak, Naseby

Outstanding Contribution to Food & Drink Northamptonshire

Jo & Nigel Wagstaff, Houghton Hams

Patrons Award

Phil Martin, Northampton College

Restaurant of the Year, sponsored by Greedy Gordons

GOLD – The Palmichael, Burton Latimer

SILVER – Marseille, Northampton

SILVER – Murrays, Whittlebury Park, Towcester

BRONZE – Hopping Hare, Northampton

BRONZE – Karmana, Northampton

BRONZE – Tap and Kitchen, Oundle

Weetabix Sustainability Award, sponsored by Weetabix

GOLD – Sol Laug Haven

SILVER – Blue Skies Ltd

SILVER – SNVB (South Northants Volunteer Bureau)

BRONZE – The Farm Shed

BRONZE – Green Machine Refill

BRONZE – Silverstone Circuits Ltd

Whitco Chef of the Year, sponsored by Whitco

GOLD – Adam Phillips, The Falcon at Castle Ashby

SILVER – Zak Perrin, The Falcon at Fotheringhay

BRONZE – Piotr Czarnocki, Gourmand Pierre Private Dining

HIGHLY COMMENDED – Daniel Webster, Websters Catering and Events

HIGHLY COMMENDED – Laszlo Bodnarjuk, The Palmichael

HIGHLY COMMENDED – Reece Coles, Hops and Chops

World Cuisine Restaurant of the Year, sponsored by British Pepper & Spice

GOLD – June Plum, Wellingborough

SILVER – Marmaris, Northampton

SILVER – Mexican Fire Garden, Kettering

BRONZE – Little India, Earls Barton

BRONZE – Voujon, Long Buckby

The culinary themed trophies were created from upcycled metalware supporting the sustainable theme of some of our categories.  These were presented by Helen Fospero who was the Master of Ceremonies, known for her presenting role on shows such as GMTV, Daybreak and Lorraine.

Mike Peters, Managing Director of Whitworth Bros Ltd, category sponsor of ‘One to Watch’ said “Every year the Awards ceremony and Gala Dinner is an evening to remember and this year was no exception.   I’d encourage everyone to seek out the winners and finalists in each of the categories to support them throughout the year as we continue to make Northamptonshire a great place to eat, work and live.”

For more information on the Weetabix Northamptonshire Food and Drink Awards 2023/24, please   visit www.northamptonshirefoodanddrink.co.uk.