Press

If you’re short of a story, or your editor has just given you yet another ridiculous deadline, we have lots of case studies or human interest stories you might find useful. We also have an abundance of photography that you may wish to use, and we’re never shy about making a comment on the latest bit of food-related news.

Please call the office on 01695 732734 for comments or to arrange an interview.

A bit of background

NW Fine Food is a membership organisation. All our members are producers from the North West (Cumbria, Cheshire, Lancashire, Merseyside and Greater Manchester). They each own a £5 share in the company. We don’t make a profit and any money we make is ploughed back into developing their businesses - promoting them, helping them grow and generally trying to help sell more of their local produce.

We have had the wonderful pleasure of meeting these producers and hearing their very personal stories. And believe us, all of them have a great story to tell. Take Michelle, who used to work in the smoothie bar at Harvey Nicks in Manchester. Obsessed by pickles, chutneys and apples, (trust us they’re all like this!), she left her beloved job, researched the market for a year and started Clippy’s Apple Preserves.

She is determined to protect our native North West apple orchards, and works with a range of local orchards and suppliers. The passion for her work shines through in everything she does, and her delicious preserves include the magnificent Apple and Rhubarb Jam. All her products are handmade in small batches with a big dollop of Clippy love. Just a typical NW Fine Food member really.

We also have producers who are true family businesses: Edge & Son have been butchers, producing rare breed and organic meats in the Wirral since the 1800s. So too have Gordon and Gillian Clark’s family in Penrith and Frank Taylor’s family in Sale. Richard Woodall Ltd in Millom, Cumbria, has a royal warrant to supply H.M. Queen Elizabeth II with Cumberland sausages. The company is still in family hands and they were established in 1828.

Bartons Pickles in St Helens, make the definitive piccalillWe (in our opinion) and have done so for over a hundred years. Eddisbury Fruit Farm have been growing fruit and vegetables from their rich Cheshire soils since 1936. Amanda Dowson’s family have farmed in the Ribble Valley since 1954, producing cream and milk and some delicious ice cream from their Hostein herd. Freda Neale’s ancestors have been farming in the heart of rural Lancashire for so long they can’t tell you when it all started, but they now sell their farm produce from a rather good farm shop. We could go on and on.

Not one of our members is boring or dispassionate, because to make, rear or grow your own products is not for the faint hearted when you consider the power of the competition. What they make is often the result of generations of work - recipes handed down, animals looked after, fruit and veg lovingly cared for. If you talk to them they’re open and honest about the way they create the end product. The big boys might have hijacked all the marketing phrases but if you rely on your senses, you can smell, see and (ha ha) taste the difference.

If you want to know more, or write about these incredible people don’t hesitate to give us a ring.

The NW Fine Foods team