Severn & Wye Smokery makes finals of the 2018 BBC Food & Farming Awards

Published by

Nicky Godding

The Severn & Wye Smokery is the only business in the South West of England which has made the finals of the prestigious BBC Food & Farming Awards 2018.

The recently-expanded Severn & Wye Smokery Shop at Chaxhill, Westbury-on-Severn has been carefully renovated over the last three years by artisan craftsmen. As well as a fish market, chef’s larder, gift shop and café there is also an open-plan restaurant and a theatre-style kitchen.

Not all salmon originates from Scotland. The wild salmon fishery on the River Severn has recorded up to 30,000 wild salmon caught in a season and was such a significant fishery that it was recorded in the Domesday Book.

The Rivers Severn and Wye are synonymous not only with wild salmon but also with elver and eel, the two rivers being one of Europe’s biggest elver fisheries. Fishery founder, Richard Cook, spent his childhood fishing and collecting this ‘Silver Harvest’ with his father, gaining invaluable life experience which formed the basis of his decision to start Severn & Wye Smokery.

Severn & Wye Smokery is located between the two great salmon rivers on the edge of the Royal Forest of Dean. Starting with two flagship products, smoked wild salmon and smoked eel, the business has grown to produce a full range of smoked fish products.

The smoker became so successful that in September 1999 it moved to a new, purpose-built fish processing plant at Westbury-on-Severn. In 2007 the original smokery was renovated, and investment made in the fabric and equipment within the old site.

The winners will be revealed at the Food & Farming Awards ceremony. The inaugural event was held in St James's Palace (with the support of HRH, The Prince of Wales) with Stephen Fry acting as host. In subsequent years the Awards have been held in Birmingham’s Museum and Art Gallery and in the NEC, Birmingham, (in partnership with the BBC Good Food Show). In 2016 Bristol played host to the BBC Food & Farming Awards.

Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe. After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts. She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.