Local food and drink businesses celebrated at Food Awards Evening

The presentation of the 2023 Nantwich Food Awards winners took place on Friday 20th October at a glittering ceremony in Nantwich Civic Hall, sponsored by KBA, The Financial Planning Company.

The awards followed the annual Nantwich Food Festival that brings 40,000 visitors to Nantwich every September.  Local foodies voted online in their thousands in the months leading up to the festival to choose their favourite food and drink establishments.

The High Sheriff of Cheshire, Dr Dennis Dunn MBE JP DL, Councillor Rod Fletcher, Mayor of Cheshire East and Councillor Stuart Bostock, Deputy Mayor of Nantwich Town Council were in attendance at the packed awards evening.

They, in addition to the sponsors, nominees, guests and Festival Volunteers enjoyed live music by Stepping Lane late into the night, while magician Paul Kay worked his own brand of magic on the room. The Jolly Good Photo booth was well used, and all those present thoroughly enjoyed the delicious catering by Cheshire College South and West. Paul Boniface did a great job as compere of the evening.

Food Festival Chairwoman, Christine Farrall, said, “Nantwich Food Awards continue to be keenly contested each year; the awards recognise the high standard of food and drink businesses that delight locals and attract many visitors and tourists to the town.”

Results were as follows:                

• Best Newcomer was won by The Royal Oak, Worleston; this award was sponsored by Stowe Family Law, and presented by Lisa Cogger and Heather Arnold     
• Restaurant of the Year was won by St Martha’s; their award was sponsored by Applewood Independent, and presented by CEO David Pritchard
• Bar Stars award went to father and son run bar Six, whose award was sponsored by Atherton & Associates and presented by Rick Astbury
• Best Food Producer/Retailer: this award was sponsored by The White Lion, Weston, presented by Carl Boulton, Group Chief Executive, with Cheerbrook Farm Shop the worthy winner
• Café/Coffee Shop of the Year was won by Cafe de Paris; their award was sponsored by KBA Financial and presented by Emma Ball
• Best Takeaway of the Year was won by Jordy’s Pizza, sponsored by Concorde Trophies and presented by Jenny Zwijnen
• Best Pub with Food award was sponsored by Boughey Distribution and presented by Neil Trotter, Director, with The Leopard, Nantwich being the deserving winner
• Best Customer Engagement: this new award was sponsored by Nantwich News, and presented by Editor Pete Leydon. St Martha’s were delighted to win this, their second award of the evening.

Headline Sponsor for the Nantwich Food Awards, KBA The Financial Planning Company, sponsored the awards for the first time; Company Director & Chartered Financial Planner, Sarah Hogan tells us “KBA is proud to have supported this amazing event which recognises excellence in the local hospitality sector. Events like this are even more important after all the challenges the hospitality sector has faced over the last few years. 

“My team and I voted for our own favorites and we thoroughly enjoyed our time at the fabulous gala awards evening, where we were able to meet and congratulate the winners.

“At KBA The Financial Planning Company our ethos is we want to “Help People Have Better Lives”. That relates to our clients and customers, our team and our local communities so sponsoring events like the Nantwich Food Awards really means a lot. 

“We offer a diverse range of financial planning and have multiple offices across the North-West and Cheshire including our new office in Spinningfields, Manchester so, for more details, please visit our website:  

www.kbafinancial.com

A separate award donated by the Festival itself and presented by the Festival’s Diana Boyles, that of Best Sustainable Exhibitor, was won by Nantwich business Sweet Pea’s. The concept of this award was initiated by Sustainable Nantwich, which has worked closely with the Festival in its drive to become more sustainable. Sustainable’s Sam Pohlmann joined Diana in presenting this award.

Christine Farrall finished, saying “The Festival and the Nantwich Food Awards are run entirely by Festival Volunteers and it’s wonderful to see them having such a great evening. Some work for a few hours during the Festival, others the full weekend, whilst the Committee members work tirelessly the whole year through. The other Nantwich Food Festival Directors and I are enormously proud to be part of this group."

Further details about the Nantwich Food Awards, the Nantwich Food Festival and how to get involved can be found on:

www.nantwichfoodfestival.co.uk