Taste Lancashire Producer Awards 2026 open for applications

Marketing Lancashire, organisers of the only county-wide tourism and hospitality awards, is delighted to launch the latest Taste Lancashire Producer Awards in partnership with Booths.   

The Taste Lancashire Producer Awards, introduced last year, will run alongside the Lancashire Tourism Awards with the award winners announced at the joint awards ceremony in February 2026. 

Lancashire is 80 per cent rural, with 137miles of coastline, and bountiful in produce from both land and sea.

This cherished landscape is integral to the food and drink grown and made here, and its exceptional producers and produce celebrated in the UK and beyond. 

These awards aim to support, and champion those food and drink heroes that make Lancashire a food destination like no other.   

The Taste Lancashire Producer Awards 2026 will honour the producers and the produce they raise, nurture and prepare in four categories: Beers, Wines and Spirits, artisanal producers and manufacturers of alcoholic beverages and their non-alcoholic counterparts; Pantry, including preserved, ambient, frozen and ready to eat food, and drinks such as coffee or soft drinks; Bakeries, Pies and Pastries, savoury or sweet; Fish, field and dairy, all kinds of meat, fish, vegetable, herbs, fruits and dairy products.   

Applicants will be required to tell their business story through an initial application form, followed by an interview and tasting to be held at Booths Central Office, near Preston; giving shortlisted producers the valuable opportunity to meet independent industry experts as well as Booths’ buyers, who will jointly select the winners.  

Vikki Harris, marketing and partnerships director at Marketing Lancashire, said: “Lancashire is known as a destination for food tourism, and the food producers in the county have a strong part to play in that reputation.

"These high calibre producers not only play their part in delivering an incredible hospitality experience, but many help put Lancashire on the map when visitors buy products and take a little bit of Lancashire home with them.  

“We had some outstanding applications when we launched the awards last year, and we were proud to announce the very well-deserved winners back in February.

"I am looking forward to seeing which businesses put themselves forward for the awards this year and working alongside Booths to crown the 2026 winners.”  

John Gill, head of trading and marketing at Booths, said: “Booths was founded in the spirit of entrepreneurship, and we’re committed to supporting and celebrating our local producers, who support our founding ethos, ‘to sell the best goods available, in attractive stores, staffed with first class assistants.’  

“Lancashire people are pioneers in the food industry, from farmers and growers, cherished family businesses, to 'kitchen table'-startups, we’re looking for the very best food and drink products, made with quality, skill and integrity.  

 “Together with Marketing Lancashire, our aim is to bring these producers and products to wider attention and celebrate their role in making Lancashire, Britain’s most delicious county.” 

Applications for the Taste Lancashire Awards 2026 are now open and can be found at www.tastelancashireproducerawards.com, along with criteria for entrants.

The deadline for applications is 31st October with the shortlist due to be announced in December.

Those shortlisted will then be invited for interview and tasting session in January 2026 at the Booths HQ in Preston, with the winners announced as part of the Lancashire Tourism Awards ceremony in February 2026, full details to be announced shortly. 

If you would like to support or sponsor the Taste Lancashire Producer Awards, or Lancashire Tourism Awards, please contact Maria Moriarty-Eames at [email protected]