Food & Drink Award For The Priory Inn, Tetbury

For the second year running, The Priory Inn, Tetbury - the family friendly gastro-inn in the heart of the Cotswolds - has received the prestigious Cotswold Life Food and Drink Award for “Most Distinctive Local Menu” voted for by the restaurant-going public.

For the second year running and after receiving a trio of awards in 2006, the gastro-inn’s culinary achievements have again been publicly recognised at a local level at an annual celebration known in The Cotswolds as ‘the Oscars of the food and drink scene’!

The Cotswold Life Food and Drink Awards, which were announced on Friday evening at the Beaufort Polo Club, are given to those organisations which have received the most nominations from the general public and then judged by an independent panel. They are in their fifth year and were set up to honour the best suppliers, sellers and producers of the finest local food and drink the Cotswolds and Gloucestershire has to offer.

Dave Kelly, who is Director and co-owner of The Priory Inn, Tetbury, along with his wife Tanya says:

“Since we first won this award last year, we have struck up some new and very exciting relationships with local suppliers and producers, boosting our menus and adding interest to the choice of local beer, wine and other drinks at the bar. Our dream was always to offer excellent local, seasonal (and affordable) food and drink in the right environment to draw people from miles around.

“We are very proud and enthusiastic about the origin of our menu’s items, and we feel it is obvious that we should share this information with our customers. On each table, we tell a “story” about exactly where the food they are eating comes from.

“The flour traditionally milled less than a mile away which forms the delicious base to our gourmet pizzas and home-baked bread; the happy ducks grazing their pastures at Madgett’s Farm; the farmers adding value to milk by making excellent local cheeses; the eighteen year old who churns ice-cream from the milk of her father’s cows; and Esther – the craftswoman who produces country liqueurs from fruit found on brambles in the Cotswolds, to mention a few!

“We are thrilled that our efforts to pull these products together and integrate them into our mouth-watering menus has been recognised by our customers and the discerning Cotswold Life judges.”

The Priory Inn - whose busy gastro-inn, bedrooms and coffee bar have been completely refurbished by the current owners – is at the heart of Tetbury life. It’s aim is to be the best value place to “eat, drink and sleep” in the Cotswolds, and the gastro-inn’s roots lie firmly in producing exciting modern rustic cuisine using the best seasonal produce the Cotswolds has to offer, cooked expertly – but simply – and not costing the earth!

The Priory Inn was awarded three prestigious industry awards in 2006 from Harden’s Guide, Cotswold Life and Taste of The West. It has been nominated as a 2007 UK TV Food Hero.

The gastro-inn has gained a reputation for its live acoustic music on Sunday nights and its second menu which features gourmet pizzas from the wood-fired oven. The restaurant is welcoming to all members of the family – whatever their age – with a special lunchtime kids’ menu and highchairs, but monitors work from bedrooms to restaurants, so parents staying at the hotel can relax in the evenings without the little ones!

The management team behind The Priory boasts years of hospitality experience between them, working in and launching high profile hotel and restaurant establishments in New York, London and Hertfordshire.

The Priory Inn is situated in Tetbury, a beautiful market town in the heart of the Cotswolds which is one of the most important antiques centres in the UK. It is 2 miles from the Royal home of Highgrove. The hotel also has 14 ensuite contemporary bedrooms.

For more information, visit Theprioryinn.co.uk.