AN Ilkley fishmonger has been announced as Fishmonger of the Year at the Farm Shop & Deli Show held in Birmingham at the NEC this week.

"We are delighted to receive such a prestigious award," said Jonathan Batchelor, MD of Ramus Seafoods, which has stores in South Hawksworth Street, Ilkley and also Harrogate. "We’d like to thank all of our customers for their support and all of our staff for their hard work and commitment."

Now in their fourth year, and one of the highlights of Farm Shop & Deli Show, the awards recognise the best specialist independent retailers in the UK. Celebrating the highest levels of service, product knowledge, initiative, innovation and community involvement, the awards unearth the crème de la crème of fine food retail establishments.

The North East region dominated this year’s awards welcoming home five winners from across the 13 categories including Keelham Farm Shop Ltd who took home a hat-trick of awards.

The judges praised Ramus Seafoods saying they had fabulous looking premises with good sustainability credentials. Customers said the outlet provided excellent service and quality produce; fresh, sustainable and friendly service with well informed and helpful staff.

The awards were judged by a panel of experts from the world of speciality retail, fine food and food media, including Arthur Howell, fourth generation butcher and 2016 Farm Shop & Deli Awards Retailer of the Year; Jon May, Managing Director Fabulous Food & Drink, Megan Tatum, Deputy Features Editor of The Grocer and Holly Shackleton, Editor of Speciality Food magazine.

Shortlisted entrants were chosen before the judges hit the road to secret-shop and observe undercover the award hopefuls. The judges covered the length and breadth of the country to experience first-hand the enthusiasm, array of produce and customer satisfaction on offer in each of the shortlisted businesses. Finally, after weeks of scrutiny and deliberation, the category and regional winners were selected.

Nigel Barden, chairman of Judges and Food and Drink Journalist and Broadcaster, said: “It’s a real privilege to acknowledge food and drink retailers of this quality and those looking after our online shopping requirements. These are passionate, enterprising, knowledgeable and diligent people. It’s been a tough, rigorous and rewarding process for our judges, but we are now in a position to announce our Category and Regional winners, alongside an inaugural Best Newcomer award. It will also be a life-changing moment for the team whose business is named Retailer of the Year."

The Farm Shop & Deli Awards will return next year for its fifth year of celebrating excellence in the specialist retail market. Entries for the 2018 Awards will open in June 2017. Further information on the awards and how to register interest to enter, can be found at www.farmshopanddelishow.co.uk/awards