Shrewsbury Market Hall up for another award
Shrewsbury Market Hall has been shortlisted for another national award.
The indoor market, which last year won the title of 'Britain’s Favourite Market', has been shortlisted in the Farm Shop & Deli Awards for Food Hall of the Year.
Almost half of the market’s traders are food businesses, including artisan producers, organic farmers, traditional family butchers, a delicatessen, fishmonger, wholefood and gourmet spice blend specialists, cafes, restaurants and street food venues.
The Market Hall has been shortlisted, alongside five other finalists from across the UK, in the Food Hall of the Year category, following votes by members of the public and secret visits by mystery shoppers.
The Farm Shop and Deli Awards, now in their sixth year, aim to commend the success of retailers’ in various speciality sectors and across the British regions.
Market Hall facilities manager Kate Gittins said: “We are thrilled and very excited to have reached the final stages of these prestigious awards.
“Our food and drink retailers are passionate about authenticity, taste, growing local and offering a high degree of specialist knowledge.
“People might not automatically think of the market as a traditional food hall, but in fact the type of quality local produce and artisan products that can be found in a classic food hall can also be found here.
“Nearly all of our greengrocers grow the majority of the seasonal produce they sell on their own smallholdings or farms in Shropshire, our butchers source from reputable local farms and suppliers. The proprietor of our delicatessen farms his own pigs and uses the pork to make home cured hams, sausages and bacon.”
“We have a company making its own gourmet spice blends and a popular wholefood specialist which attracts customers from across the region for its selection of local wholefoods, grains and oils. The majority of our eateries also source ingredients from within the market.”
There are 11 awards for different speciality sectors, along with nine regional awards, a newcomer award and an overall Farm Shop & Deli Retailer of the Year award. Fifty businesses in total have been shortlisted as category finalists.
The winners of the Farm Shop and Deli Awards will be unveiled at the Farm Shop & Deli Show on April 8 at the NEC, Birmingham.
Chair of Judges and Food & drink journalist & broadcaster Nigel Barden said: “It’s a fabulous initiative for the sector and offers the best way to recognise and reward excellence for the UK’s local, artisan and high street speciality retailers.”
Shrewsbury Market Hall was shortlisted in the Great British Market Awards earlier this year for ‘Britain’s Favourite Market 2019’, but missed out to Bury Market, and is also currently a finalist in regional awards for ‘Best Market in the Midlands’.
