Shortlist announced for Shop of the Year 2018

The Guild of Fine Food’s annual Shop of the Year awards has announced its shortlist for 2018.

Out of 150 entries, 42 independent retail outlets around the UK are now in the running for awards such as Best Delicatessen, Best Farm Shop or Garden Centre with Food Hall, Best Grocer, Village or Community Shop and Best Specialist Cheese Shop.

Having had a written entry reviewed by a panel of respected industry experts, these shortlisted independent retailers, which include London-based Bayley & Sage, Farndon Fields in Market Harborough and Suffolk-based Slate will now undergo two further rounds of judging this summer; an announced visit from one of the judges; and a mystery shop by Shopper’s Anonymous.

Previously forming part of the Great Taste accreditation scheme, Shop of the Year offers independent retailers a chance to achieve a stamp of approval with real integrity.

The panel of judges – including Edward Berry of The Flying Fork, Stuart Gates, Tracey Colley and Georgina Mason from Gonalston Farm Shop – will rate, score and feedback on every aspect of the shops before agreeing on an overall category winner.

Shop of the Year Shortlist 2018:

Delicatessen

Aubrey Allen, Leamington Spa

Bayley & Sage, Battersea, London

Bloomfields Fine Food, Highworth, Wiltshire

Broad Bean, Ludlow

Delifonseca Dockside, Liverpool

Fillet & Bone, Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire

Hunters of Helmsley, North Yorkshire

Indie Füde, Co Down, Northern Ireland

Mmm…glug…, Newcastle upon Thyne

No2 Pound Street, Aylesbury

The Goring Grocer, Reading

The House of Bruar, Perthshire

Thomas of Helmsley, North Yorkshire

Farm Shop or Garden Centre with Food Hall

Bowland Food Hall, Citheroe, Lancashire

Cranstons Cumbrian Food Hall, Penrith, Cumbria

Eggs to Apples Farm Shop, Etchingham, East Sussex

Farmer Copleys Ltd, Pontefract, West Yorkshire

Farndon Fields, Market Harborough, Leicestershire

Hockey’s Farm Shop, Fordingbridge, Hampshire

Keelham Farm Shop, Bradford, West Yorkshire

Macknade Fine Foods, Faversham, Kent

Newton Farm Foods, Bath

Roots Farm Shop, Northallerton, North Yorkshire

Taylors Farm Shop Ltd, Lancashire

The Lambing Shed Farm Shop, Cheshire

Tortworth Estate Shop, Wotton-Under-Edge, Gloucestershire

Grocer, Village or Community Shop

Andreas of Chelsea Green, London

Godfrey C. Williams & Son, Cheshire

Heath Stores, Horsmonden, Kent

Lotts & Co, Dublin

The Hungry Guest, West Sussex

The Seasons, East Sussex

Turnips of Borough Market, London

Specialist Cheese Shop

Androuet, Lamb Street, London

Cheeses of Muswell, London

Fauvette, Penarth, Wales

George & Joseph Specialist Cheese Shops, Leeds

Paxton & Whitfield, Chelsea Green, London

Slate, Suffolk

The Cheese Lady, Haddington, East Lothian

The Cheese Society, Lincoln The Pangbourne Cheese Shop, Reading

gff.co.uk/awards/shop-of-the-year/