Awards Celebrate Local Produce

A microbrewery, artisan butchery, gourmet pub and sustainable restaurant will be presented with awards at a ceremony in the Food Hall at the Pembrokeshire Agricultural Show, Withybush, Haverfordwest, this morning (Wednesday, 17th August).

The awards will be announced by the Chairman of Pembrokeshire County Council, Councillor Tony Brinsden.

The Pembrokeshire Produce Mark scheme has more than 300 members, which are verified to ensure that the product they sell or use is made in Pembrokeshire.

The scheme includes food and drink producers, artists and craftspeople, hospitality establishments which use Pembrokeshire food and drink in their menus; and retail outlets which sell locally-made items.

This year, there are two winners of Best Use of Local Produce in a Hospitality Outlet – the Griffin Inn, Dale, and Grub Kitchen, St Davids. 

The Griffin Inn at Dale is run by Sian Mathias and Simon Vickers and has become renowned in the last few years for its outstanding fresh fish and seafood.

Among its accolades are the winners of Best Seafood Establishment in Wales in the Food Awards Wales 2016, and silver in the Best Place to Eat (pub category) in the Welsh Tourism Awards 2015.

The couple moved to Dale six years ago – for Sian, it was a move back home, and Simon spent many childhood holidays in the village as his grandfather lived there.

The last thing on their minds was running a pub, but after just a few weeks, the Griffin Inn became available, and they couldn’t resist taking it over.

Since then, it has become a foodie destination as well as retaining its reputation as a welcoming local pub, thanks to its delicious seafood which is supplied daily by fisherman Mark Gainfort in their own fishing boat, ‘The Griffin Girl’.

Simon said the feedback has been fantastic. “People say they’ve been have been looking for somewhere like this for years. It’s just gone from strength to strength.”

Better known for dishing up delicacies involving insects (known as entomophagy) Grub Kitchen at St Davids is also a champion at promoting sustainable local produce.

Run by chef Andy Holcroft, Grub Kitchen is located on The Bug Farm, a working farm research centre and visitor attraction in St Davids that provides them with the majority of the produce they serve such as Welsh Black Beef, Welsh Lamb and a range of vegetables.

And they will soon be farming their own edible insects.

Grub Kitchen has already won the Social Entrepreneur Award from UnLtd (who provide support for social entrepreneurs) despite being open for less than a year and has also achieved Landmarc 100 status for rural innovation.

While edible insects form the centre-stage on the menu, other fantastic fare from in and around Pembrokeshire are on offer in a range of ‘best-of’ dishes that Andy has developed.

“We’re all about sustainability at Grub Kitchen,” said Andy. “It is widely estimated there will be between 9 to10 billion humans by the year 2050 and edible insects will help provide us with protein.

“We want to turn entomophagy from a novelty to normalcy and we can do all of that here in Pembrokeshire.

Bug Bourguignon anyone?

The winner of the Best New Product is Tenby Brewing Co. Ltd.

The Tenby Brewing Company is a microbrewery operating in the resort’s Saltern’s industrial park.

Owners James Beaven and Rob Faulkner spent most of their working lives in the pub and bar trade in the UK and abroad.

Frustrated and bored with the UK’s beer industry’s selection of largely tasteless lagers, and bland ales, they decided it was about time they started brewing something more interesting.

They sold their first bottle of beer at the end of March 2015.

James explained: “After eight months of planning, and many late nights reading and hounding other microbrewers, hop merchants and industry boffins for information, we were lucky enough to have the opportunity to purchase Preseli Brewery since the owner was retiring.”

Rob added: “Our mission is to brew interesting and full flavour beers using the best quality ingredients leaving as little impact on the environment as possible.”

Their range of imaginative beers include the Pembrokeshire Promise – ‘full of character yet light and easy drinking’  – and West Coast Rocks  – ‘WC Rocks’ being a term used by local kite surfers.

The beers are stocked throughout South and North Wales and also in parts of England.

The winner of Best Online Marketing of Pembrokeshire Produce is

Gwaun Valley Meats.

Gwaun Valley Meats started out as a small family-run butchers firm in 2003, run by William and Tina Evans, who had already operated the Pembrokeshire Spit Roast business for several years.

In 2006, they opened their butcher’s shop in Letterston, and over the following years gained several awards, including the ‘Great Taste: Best Welsh Speciality’ for their home-cured back bacon, and a ‘True Taste of Wales’ reserve for their Gwaun Valley cooked ham.

Towards the end of 2015 they expanded further by developing an improved website offering a next-day delivery service of all their products across mainland Britain. The website, supported by a grant from Cywain, has seen a significant boost in their number of online customers.

Willliam said: “We’ve had orders from all over the country, including Cardiff, London and Scotland. It’s also been very successful in letting people know about our shop here if they are intending to come on holiday in Pembrokeshire, and to order more products from us when they return home.”

The new website was designed and developed by Leighton Phillips of Graphicwave, with photographs by Derek Phillips Photography.

Caption
The winners of the Pembrokeshire Produce Mark awards are pictured with County Council Chairman, Tony Brinsden. Left to right are: Simon Vickers and Sian Mathias (Griffin Inn, Dale); William and Tina Evans (Gwaun Valley Meats, Letterston); James Beaven (Tenby Brewing Company) and Andy Holcroft (Grubs Kitchen, St Davids).