Kirkby Lonsdale haggis wins Scottish awards

The popular Market Street butchers secured a Gold Award for both their haggis based 'pork balmoral' product and their Scotch pie with haggis in the prestigious 2019 Scottish Craft Butchers Haggis Products Awards, and completed their winning quartet with Silver Awards for their haggis Scotch eggs and another haggis based product know as the 'Flying Scotsman.'

"It's great to do well in a Scottish competition that features their most famous foodstuff," said owner Mark Duckworth.

"We make our own haggis and it always sells very well. It's a hugely versatile product and we are continuously looking at different and innovative ways to present it to our customers."

The business was established in 1906 but in the 19 years since Mr Duckworth took over, he has ensured Scottish favourites such as haggis, Lorne sausage and fruit pudding all featuring in his counters, and he is hoping the latest accolades will se his customers enjoying such fare way beyond the forthcoming Burns Night celebrations.

"Having a themed year for haggis in 2019 will allow us to stretch out our offerings to more people for a longer period and I'm sure our Cumbrian customers will respond well to this tasty Scottish promotion," he said.

Dales saw off competition from around 60 butchers from all over Scotland and beyond in the keenly contested awards, and Scottish Craft Butchers chief executive Douglas Scott said the judges had been "blown away" by the innovation and tastiness of the entries.

"2019 is The Year Of The Haggis and we wanted to encourage butchers to offer their customers delicious alternatives for their Burns Supper feast and for the remainder of the year," he said.

"The judges were impressed by just how novel some of the highly rated products were and they will, without a doubt, see haggis on the menu for many households throughout this entire year."