A NEW café and deli has opened in Ludlow creating five new jobs.

Ludlow Food Centre, has just opened the doors to its new town centre premises, Ludlow Pantry that is is designed to give customers ‘A Taste’ of what the Food Centre produces including cheeses, coffee, preserves, bread, cakes and deli produce.

The Food Centre was voted Britain’s Best Food Hall 2014 in the Farm Shop & Deli Awards. By expanding its brand and opening the small town centre satellite it hopes to introduce more locals and visitors to the main shop situated just outside the town on the Earl of Plymouth’s Oakly Park Estate.

“We are unique at Ludlow Food Centre because we have our own glass fronted production kitchens that make more than half the food we sell,” said managing director Edward Berry.

“Our producers are capable of making more food, but not enough for us to become a national brand, so we thought we could open our own cafe and deli in Ludlow to increase the amount of we food we sell.”

The Food Centre’s assistant retail manager James Stanton who has worked at Ludlow Food Centre for the past five years will be the manager of the new operation.

“It is great to have been given the responsibility. My team and I are all looking forward to meeting locals and tourists over the coming months,” he said.

Ludlow Pantry has 14 seats for those wanting a cup of coffee or a lunch break but is also designed to cater for take away customers wanting ‘grab and go’ food.

Early best sellers have been the cheese toasties and sandwiches which use freshly baked bread delivered from the Food Centre every morning, artisan cheese and Gloucester Old Spot ham.

Caption: John Stanton