Delight for Staffordshire butcher after triple win at British Food Awards

A South Staffordshire butchers was celebrating again this week after scooping a trio of gold awards for its brilliant bacon.

The 2024 Great British Food Awards awards saw Pattingham-based Martin Thomas Butchers go head-to-head with some of the biggest food retailers in the country such as Tesco, Waitrose and Lidl before walking away with three golds, grabbing both top awards in the bacon category before wowing judge Michel Roux Jr with its traditional black pudding in the Best British Speciality category.

In a remarkable run for the independent family-run butchers on Wolverhampton Road, it also took third place in the charcuterie category for its treacle-infused air-dried pancetta.

Sixth generation butcher Craig Thomas says all the bacon curing is done the old-fashioned way using dry salt which is hand-rubbed into the meat to ensure the thicker areas receive slightly more salt than the narrower areas to make the salt coverage even. All bacon is then selected for dryness and hand-sliced to ensuring exacting specifications can be maintained. 

The company's award winning black pudding recipe was created out of necessity in 1997 when a seasoning supplier went out of business. After working with an independent supplier to create a unique flavour and texture profile, the company entered its first competition in 1998 at the Wolverhampton and District Butchers Association and has not looked back since.

Mr Thomas said he was delighted with the accolade, which comes on the back of a string of awards throughout the year for the quality of the company's products.

"For us this is another massive achievement and this year it's over 24 awards that we've picked up in the 12 months," he said.

"We received the only gold awards for bacon issued by [judge] Dhruv Baker and the only gold in the regional speciality from Michel Roux Jnr for our traditional black pudding which we've been making and winning awards for since 1998 to the same recipe.

"It's been taken through Germany and won in Germany three times, we've won major awards at the meat management awards this year in their charcuterie category as the only black pudding to get a highly commended and a finalist."

The award is the latest in a string of wins for the firm, who last year also tasted success at the National Craft Butchers Product Awards after receiving five gold award ratings for two of its bacon products and three of its pork pies.