Happy 10th Birthday to our Orton Grange Food Hall

Pictured (from left to right); Sarah, Pam, Spencer, Claire, Chris, Vicky, Peter

Our Orton Grange Food Hall, which champions our own award-winning butchery and delicatessen goods along with produce from over 80 Cumbrian suppliers, celebrated a successful decade of trading on Saturday with a customer food festival. The Food Hall has gone from strength to strength since it opened back in 2013 and now serves over four thousand customers a week.

Our team enjoyed celebrating the Food Hall’s birthday with hundreds of customers who were offered a slice of birthday cake, a glass of fizz and Cranstons samples galore. Local suppliers Gretna Bakery and Carlisle Distilling Company were in attendance chatting to customers and handing out samples.

Chris Russell, Master Butcher, and Manager has worked at the food hall since it opened, he said ‘’It has been lovely to celebrate a successful decade trading with our dedicated team and customers and to thank them for their ongoing hard work and loyal support. We received lots of lovely compliments during the day about our friendly and knowledgeable team. It is clear lots of people really value the work we do promoting quality local produce’’

Our Food Hall customers enjoy locally sourced lamb and poultry, expertly dry aged beef, traditional Cumberland Sausage, and dry cured bacon. The busy deli counter is packed full of roasted meats, freshly prepared salads, freshly baked pork pies and sausage rolls. In addition to our own produce, the food hall sells a whole host of Cumbrian produced goods from local bread, eggs, and cheese to confectionary, jams, pickles, ice cream, ale, and spirits.

Peter Potts, our Senior Retail Manager, said ‘”Cranstons have really enjoyed developing the food hall here at Orton Grange Farm over the last ten years. We have been fortunate to have a passionate team, led by Chris, each of whom I’d like to thank for all their hard work. Since we opened, we have added a fresh milk vending machine selling milk from Orton Grange Farm and fresh fish and seafood from Fyne Fish. We opened a hot breakfast and lunch counter serving takeaway butties and meal boxes and most recently fresh scones traybakes and cakes baked at our bakery facility in Penrith’’

‘’The wider Cumbrian food scene has grown over the last decade too and we are proud to stock significantly more Cumbrian produce than we did 10 years ago with lots of great new companies like Eden Yard Rapeseed oil and Northern Pasta Company emerging. Previously we could not source a Cumbrian pasta or oil. We are always looking for new products and services we can add to further enhance our Food Hall’s. The whole team are excited for the future’’.

Our Orton Grange Food Hall is part of a rural business community at Orton Grange Farm just off the busy A595 which links Carlisle with Wigton and West Cumbria. The site is also home to Orton Grange Café and Gifts, The Loft Beauty Rooms, Shearing Shed Hair Salon and Carlisle Swim School for baby and toddler swimmers.

Farmer Richard Martin and his family who set up the café and gift shop post foot and mouth and subsequently invited other businesses to get involved said ‘’We were thrilled to expand our farm business park here at Orton Grange with the building and opening of Cranstons Orton Grange Food Hall back in 2013, it has been popular from the first day it opened and compliments the other brilliant independent businesses the farm is home to. Customers really seem to appreciate the combination of out-of-town convenience and parking and quality bespoke products and services.’’

Sarah, Pam, Claire and Vicky have worked at the food hall since it opened along with Ann and Rachel (who weren’t working on the day photo was taken)