WILTSHIRE, UK – British royalty and castles go together like strawberries and cream, so when specialist producer and exporter of British cream and dairy produce, Coombe Castle International, won its third Queen’s Awards for International Trade and had new premises to open, a royal visitor was on hand to do the honours.
The Princess Royal, Princess Anne, visited Coombe Castle’s headquarters in Melksham, Wiltshire yesterday to present the company with its award and officially open its new GBP1.5m premises by unveiling a plaque.
Princess Anne also toured the premises to see Coombe Castle’s expanded cream production and its storage facilities where butter and cheese is stored before being shipped overseas.
The Queen’s Award for International Trade – Coombe Castle’s third since 2001 – recognises the British firm’s success in exporting specialist high quality dairy produce from the UK and Ireland to over 40 countries including Canada, US, Russia, Japan and South Korea.
The company previously won the Queen’s Award in 2001 and 2007.
Among the guests was Helen Pile from Tree of Life, one of the largest distributors of specialty and natural foods in Canada. Tree of Life was Coombe Castle’s very first customer in 1980. Helen had flown in from Toronto especially for the royal visit.
Coombe Castle’s chairman Glyn Woolley said: “This is a huge honour for our firm and its people. Our mission is to take the very best of the UK’s dairy produce and export it to a global market that’s got a real appetite for British cheese, butter and milk. Having the Princess Royal here makes us very proud of what we’ve achieved and what we have planned for the future.
“The support that our customers and suppliers around the world have shown us has made this possible.”
Darren Larvin, Coombe Castle’s managing director, said: “Winning one Queen’s Award is quite an achievement, but to win three is incredibly rare. It’s a mark of the impact a small British firm has been able to make on the international food and drink market – and the growing influence of the brand we’ve built.
“Moving the business to this new facility is a big step forward for us. We’ve grown significantly over the last 10 years, but our operation was split between a number of small sites in Wiltshire. Now we’re able to house the entire business under a single roof, which makes everything easier and allows us to operate more efficiently.
“Importantly, we’ve been able to boost our cream production, bringing in the very latest equipment, and have much greater storage capacity in our temperature-controlled warehouse. These are key steps in helping us achieve our growth ambitions.”
Financing for the premises move was provided by Barclays Corporate Banking. John Winter, CEO, Corporate Banking, Barclays, said: “Winning business overseas is vitally important to UK businesses and for the British economy as a whole. This is an impressive achievement for Coombe Castle and it is always pleasing to see companies recognised in this way for their commercial successes.”
Founded in 1980 in Corsham, the company employs 30 people. It exports its own cream and also butter and cheese products from a range of farms, creameries and dairies. Well-known brands exported by the company include cheeses such as Applewood Smoked Cheddar, Stinking Bishop and Colliers Welsh Cheddar; a range of clotted and double creams plus butter from Devon, Wales and goats’ butter.
Source: Coombe Castle International