Lancashire Artisan Food Revolution: The stories behind Fell Bistro, 263, Goosnargh Gin, Butlers Farmhouses Cheeses and Hollidays Microbakery

We visited some of the best recommend artisan producers in Lancashire to find out what is happening to the food market in our county and why there has been an explosion in the desire for top-quality, local produce.

Chefs Sean Wrest and Brett Thornton

Starting the week visiting renowned, award-winning Chefs Sean Wrest and Brett Thornton who both run the kitchens of popular Lancashire venues: Fell Bistro and 263. We asked them why it's so important for restaurants and their customers to have high-quality local produce on their menus.

Sean said: "There is definitely a food revolution in Lancashire. There are so many good restaurants. As a county I think the food scene here is incredible, it’s just amazing. Its so exciting as a chef, all these places opening up, everyone is inspiring each other with ideas, technique, everyone’s promoting each product their using.

“I think the biggest thing is with buying local you’re obviously supporting local businesses, and we’re a local business ourselves, so we need that support back. Using small-scale suppliers like Wyreside Mushrooms, Paul over there has started in the last few years and we’re trying to support him whether it’s lion’s mane that we’re buying, we’ve used it on the menu here and we’re looking to use it in a dish at 263. What you do is build up that relationship with people, he comes in really passionate and you can see this passion in the product as well. So if we can use the passion in our dishes, it works both ways."

Brett: “I think it is massively important, as long as we keep it local, it keeps everyone happy and it keeps people in jobs. We go to Goosnargh for chickens, Crafty’s, suppliers in Morecombe and the lakes, we try and keep everything in the North-West.”

Goosnargh Gin

Richard and Rachel Trenchard own Goosnargh Gin based in the Forest of Bowland, the brand they have created supplies their handcrafted gin to only independent shops and restaurants up and down the country and is famous for hand-picked botanicals from the surroundings in which they are based.

The Trenchard’s started their business in 2015 and have been featured on the Hairy Bikers Go North. The Lancashire couple use the county as inspiration for each of their different gins, ensuring they are creating something completely innovative and different to brands alike.

Goosnargh Gin describe themselves as ‘fiercely independent’, they say: ‘Our gins are distilled in small batches by hand by us, using our bespoke copper pot still named Bea. We develop all our own recipes in-house and insist on using the highest quality botanicals which are either foraged, expertly grown for us or ethically and sustainably sourced from top quality suppliers. Once we have the blend of botanicals absolutely right, Bea then works her magic distilling our handcrafted, small batch gin ready for bottling and hand labelling. All bottles are hand finished by us, including handwritten details, such as the batch and bottle number.’

You will only be able to find Goosnargh Gin from independents as part of their ethos ensures they champion local businesses. To find out more visit here.

Butlers Farmhouse Cheeses

Butlers Farmhouse Cheeses is a 4th Generation family cheesemakers, based in rural Lancashire, with quality at the heart of everything they do.

Matthew Hall, 4th Generation owner of Butlers Cheese said: “The thing that has sustained us since 1932 is our constant thirst for innovation and having quality at the forefront of everything that we do. The lush pasture lands of Lancashire provide excellent milk, we help to make that into fantastic cheese. If you make a great quality product and people are putting it in their mouths, chances are if it tastes good their gonna keep coming back year after year.

"We’re sourcing all of our milk here from a ten mile radius, the majority comes from my Uncle’s farm across the road. Being based in Lancashire plays a vital part in the quality of food we produce here in Inglewhite."

Talking about the food revolution Matthew said: “It started in COVID, people started to wake up a little bit to the quality and breadth of the products they could get on their doorstep. So now with the cost of living people are wanting to support those local producers that supported them for the last few years.

“People are realising that products with purpose, quality and handmade, the locality where a product comes from, manufactured by people who care about what they are doing, is way better to put in your mouth.”

Hollidays Microbakery

Hollidays is a microbakery based in Staining, Lancashire. Baking fresh bread, pastries and cakes to order.

Head baker, Scott Holliday, has trained at the Bertinet Bakery, under the watchful eye of Richard Bertinet, arguably the best baker in the world. Mastered macarons at Slattery Chocolate, learned how to sling sourdough at The Crows Rest Bakehouse and crafted croissants at the Corner Cottage Bakery.

Scott said: “It's simple, we bake good bread using quality ingredients with zero additives or waste.

“We seriously care about the world around us, therefore, we try to keep our carbon footprint as tiny as possible. All of our flour is organic and milled in the UK, eggs from our hens in our back garden and we always use seasonal produce where possible. Oh, and our packaging is recyclable.

"We really are a microbakery, in true sense of the word – we've turned our garage into a genuine working bakery – investing heavily in professional equipment.”

Scott is the only baker in the Fylde Coast who makes a range of hand made croissants and pastries, including vegan options.

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