On Monday 7th April 2025 the highly anticipated winners of the 2025 Farm Shop & Deli Retailer Awards were announced, with Fordhall Farm Shop from Market Drayton being crowned Best Retailer in the Online Business category.
The Awards, presented in partnership with The Grocer and championed by Fieldfare, showcased an impressive lineup of nine category winners, six regional champions, and a highly coveted Newcomer of the Year award. An enthusiastic audience of finalists, visitors, and exhibitors cheered as Fordhall Farm Shop triumphed in their category over fierce competition from across the UK and Northern Ireland.
The judging panel was particularly impressed by Fordhall Farm Shop, with judges offering high praise:
“The new website for their shop is easy to navigate. Superb, lively social media with great warmth and lots of exciting events, newsy bits, and, of course, lots of animals.”
“There’s a lot to like about this operation with it’s organic, sustainable, community friendly approach. This provides a great marketing message for online sales. It has an attractive website with good photography. I like the way they are training younger staff who are desperately needed in the industry.”
“Good apprenticeship and meat sustainability/sourcing. Good website.”
“I can see the commitment to the welfare of our animals, ensuring they are treated with the utmost care and respect. There is a deep knowledge of their industry which they put to great use within their community and internally with their employees.”
“I really like the well-rounded training/education experience for employees, ensuring they are aware of the craft and skill and hardwork needed. Dedication to promoting butchery is evident with sustainable practices that not only benefit their business but also contribute positively to the environment and the community.”
“Fordhall farm shop, seem to be doing everything in their power to be as sustainable and low carbon footprint as possible. Great to see all these moves they have made. Absolutely agree the whole animal should be used, minimising waste. A community farm though and through.”
“An easy to navigate online shop from an all-round brilliant farm shop that serves it’s community and customers well.”
About the Judging Process The awards process involved a rigorous evaluation by a panel of leading experts who
meticulously reviewed entries online before convening in November to shortlist contenders. Secret visits during January and February allowed judges to assess nominees first-hand, culminating in the selection of this year’s winners.
From Fordhall Farm
Ben Hollins, Fordhall Farm Shop Director – “I’m absolutely delighted that we won this award. We have so many loyal and supporting customers and it was important to me that we bring our shop to customers nationwide.
We had an existing online shop but felt improvements could be made to enhance the user experience and to bring farm updates which our customers were asking for. We spent time talking with customers to understand what they liked and what changes they’d like to see and invested in this project to get those improvements in place. The functionality has been hugely improved but without losing our personal and traditional touch which is so important to us.
We have a great team within the shop and butchery and we’re all ecstatic!”
Celebrating Excellence in Independent Retail
The coveted accolades celebrate the best specialist independent retailers with judges recognising retailers’ achievements in the independent sector.
Nigel Barden, Chairman of Judges and Food and Drink Journalist and Broadcaster, says: “Despite it being a cautious retail market, it’s still been another great year for the Farm Shop & Deli Awards and we are grateful for the quality of the entries and gratified that busy retailers still found time to take part. The quality of our judging panel certainly helps draw businesses in and I was delighted to welcome new judges from the Farm Retail Association. Twenty five extra visits were made to made to ensure there was no doubt as to who our winners were to be, and this included putting some of our online retailers through their paces.
Website- https://shop.fordhallfarm.com
