BUSINESSES in and around Malvern and Ledbury which work to promote the local food economy have been praised by a campaign group.

The Malvern Hills Food Alliance has been set up to encourage the production, sharing, cooking and eating of food made within a 25-30 mile radius of the Worcestershire Beacon.

And earlier this year, the alliance received a £1,350 grant from Malvern Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty to identify caterers in the area that use local food and to identify their suppliers.

Caterers and suppliers identified by the project have been listed on the Alliance's website, and the ones identified by Alliance organisers as the most enthusiastic about local food have been awarded free premium advertising on the site.

Chris Dyer, the alliance co-ordinator, said: "We were delighted by the responses our researchers received. It showed us that there is a genuine desire amongst our local caterers to make use of local food produce whenever they can."

The winners are the Royal Oak, Much Marcle, the Oak, Defford, the Wellington, Chance’s Pitch, Colwall and Terrace on the Hill, Great Malvern. Honourable mentions go to the Red Lion, Stiffords Bridge, the Malvern Hills Hotel, British Camp and the Cottage in the Wood, Malvern Wells.

"Now we know who their local food suppliers are, we can bring them to the attention of all the catering businesses in the area and hope that greater consumption of our local food will result from that," said Mr Dyer.

"We are, of course, extremely grateful to Malvern Hills AONB for funding this project which should help to raise awareness of both MHFA’s work and its website while continuing to keep the local food economy central to the area’s sustainability efforts.

“We hope to make malvernhillsfoodalliance.org.uk the point of entry for all who are interested in our local food, so please check it out – there’s something for everybody there.”