Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Our culinary champs set
The county’s finest food and drink traders gathered on Thursday as the winners were revealed at the 12th Taste of Kent awards – and it was a bumper night for the Canterbury district
When Carl Worgan had a knife thrust into his hand as a 12-year-old boy in his uncle’s butchers he knew he’d found his calling.
And 24 years later his dedication to the trade was recognised as his own shop was named the best in Kent.
Carl, 36, moved to Canterbury on New Year’s Day 2012 and took over the butcher’s in The Goods Shed, Canterbury – now C.A. Worgans.
With his beef from Sittingbourne, lambs from Chislet and pigs from Coldred, near Dover, Carl is particular about keeping things local.
“We work with a number of local farms and try as best we can to keep everything within a 25-mile radius,” says the dad-of-three, who lives in the city centre.
“It’s very much about keeping everything to the highest standards possible and adding that personal touch.
“When I was growing up there was a run of shops near us and in every one they’d know my name, my parents’ names and my grandparents’ names.
“That’s what we’re doing here, trying to build relationships with customers. You’re not just shopping at the butchers, you’re among friends.”
Stour Valley Game in Chilham was a losing finalist.
For more visit www.goodsshed. co.uk Family-run Peter’s Produce was named the county’s best local food retailer after narrowly missing out last year.
The business was started by Peter Jones in the early 1980s and ran out of a shop in East Street, Herne Bay.
Peter’s son, Andrew, took charge when it moved to William Street in 1990 and has very much kept it in the family.
Following his father’s retirement, he now calls on the help of wife Tam and the couple’s three children, Christian, 20, Eliot, 18, and Jessica, 17.