Stockport was one of the big winners at last night’s Manchester Food and Drink Festival Awards, winning three of the evening’s most influential gongs. Where The Light Gets In scored the most hotly contested award, winning Restaurant of the Year.
The acclaimed restaurant, which is based in a former coffee warehouse in Stockport’s Old Town, beat 10 Tib Lane, Erst, The Sparrows, Another Hand, Mana and The Firehouse to the prize. It also won Pop Up Project of the Year for Food Friday, beating Platt Fields Market Garden, Sao Paulo, Suppher, Eat Well Spring Festival, Bungalow at Kampus and Heart and Parcel.
Foodie Friday’s creators John and Rosemary Barrett also took home the Howard and Ruth Outstanding Achievement Award, previously won by the likes of Store Group’s Mital Morar and Living Ventures’ Jeremy Roberts.
Read more: The ten best things to check out at this year’s Manchester Food and Drink Festival .
Accepting the Outstanding Achievement Award, John Barrett said: "I'm not usually short of a word but I'm quite overawed, because this is a massive honour. To get this is special because we love our town, we love Stockport.
"The reason I love Stockport is because my mum and dad love Stockport and my dad took me to see Stockport County when I was seven years old. And everything about the town, I'm proud of, but I'm especially proud of the people of Stockport because they are the salt of the earth."
Foodie Friday started in 2013, taking place every last Friday of the month, bringing together a host of street food vendors to Stockport’s Market Place. Thousands still turn up, to take in some of the best food in the region with live music and entertainment.
It’s helped launch the likes of I Knead Pizza and Oh Mei Dumpling. The winners were among many businesses from Stockport nominated for awards at the 25th annual MFDF awards.
Among them were the likes of Cafe San Juan, Stockport Gin, Mama Flo’s and Yellowhammer. The awards took place at Escape To Freight Island last night.
Other winners included Eddie Shepherd, who won Chef of the Year, and Another Hand, which won Newcomer of the Year. You can find all the winners here.
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