AN OSWESTRY eatery is celebrating as it will be given national recognition for the second year running from a prestigious event.

The Old School House, in Church Street, will be formally recognised by the Good Food Awards when the 2024 winners are announced in November.

The venue, close to St Oswald’s Church, received the honour 12 months ago with owner Sophie Dillon saying it has been recognised again for their ‘excellent food and drink, and consistently good customer feedback’.

She said: “It’s a nationally credited award for a small selection of businesses who excel in food, customer service, hygiene rating and positive reviews.

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“They contacted me in 2022 for 2023 to say we had caught their attention, had been shortlisted and then we won it and the same has happened this year.

“They called me in September to say that we’d been shortlisted again and then we got notification last week that we won it.

“I think we’ve caught their eye for consistently positive customer feedback – they look at Facebook reviews, TripAdvisor, etc, and we also have a five-star hygiene rating.

“Our menu is different – we used locally-sourced products, we grow a lot of our own produce and we’re a sustainably-run restaurant as we part of a programme that plants new trees in third-world countries.

“It’s for what they term excellent food and drink, consistently good customer feedback and it’s a big deal to be recognised nationally.

“I am exceptionally proud of the team who are excellent – you’re marked on u customer service for this and we all receive it for our staff and how we deal with people and the warm welcome they receive.”

Sophie admitted she felt the achievement to be recognised again was a special one, given much of the UK is still fighting the cost of living crisis.

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She added: “We opened here in July 2021 and it’s all despite the current financial climate which has impacted on hospitality significantly because people are having to save money to pay extortionate heating bills and more.

“Businesses have had to take a massive hit and I’m included in that because the cost of running it has gone through the roof.

“However, because we are consistently excellent at what we do, we’re managing to increase our customer base and we get visitors from out of town so people are coming to Oswestry still.

“It’s pretty amazing the business has continued to grow in this climate.”