Delight for Market Drayton farm shop after being crowned 'Online Business of the Year'
A North Shropshire farm shop has been crowned as the 'Online Business of the Year' at a prestigious awards.
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Staff at Fordhall Farm Shop in Market Drayton are celebrating after being crowned the 'best retailer' in the online business category at the 2025 Farm Shop & Deli Retailer Awards last Monday (April 7).
The awards, presented in partnership with The Grocer and championed by Fieldfare, showcased an impressive line-up with nine category winners, six regional champions and the 'Newcomer of the Year' award.
Fordhall Farm beat off fierce competition from across the UK and Northern Ireland to triumph and win their in their category, much to the delight of those involved and who attended.
The awards process involved a rigorous evaluation by a panel of leading experts who reviewed entries online before convening in November to shortlist contenders.
Judges then undertook secret visits in January and February to assess nominees first-hand, culminating in the selection of this year’s winners.
Judges heaped praise on Fordhall farm Shop for its offerings and customer service. The shop's website was described as "easy to navigate" while the social media was said to be "lively" and crammed with exciting news, and animals.
Meanwhile, judges were impressed by Fordhall Farm's organic and sustainable approach, and commended the Farm Shop for its aim to have as low of a carbon footprint as possible.
A judge said they could see the community-owned farm's "commitment to the welfare" of their animals and praised staff for ensuring they are treated with care and respect.
Fordhall Farm Shop Director, Ben Hollins said: "I’m absolutely delighted that we won this award. We have so many loyal and supporting customers and it was important to me that we bring our shop to customers nationwide.
"We had an existing online shop but felt improvements could be made to enhance the user experience and to bring farm updates which our customers were asking for. We spent time talking with customers to understand what they liked and what changes they’d like to see and invested in this project to get those improvements in place. The functionality has been hugely improved but without losing our personal and traditional touch which is so important to us.
"We have a great team within the shop and butchery and we’re all ecstatic."
