ALISON ASHWORTH Buyer at Holmes Mill Food Hall When Alison returned to the Ribble Valley, with her two young daughters, little did she know that the purchase of a new table from The Emporium in Clitheroe, delivered by a certain James Warburton would lead, several years later, to her new role as Buyer for the Bowland Food Hall at Holmes Mill.
there’s not another place on earth I’d rather live
Holmes Mill, which includes the Bowland Food
It’s not unusual to see our chefs scurrying round
Hall, Beer Hall, bistro, hotel and spa, is the latest
filling up a basket” Alison smiles, as this no
addition to James Warburton’s hospitality, leisure
doubt, must make her stock-taking a little bit of
and retail empire James’ Places, which grew from
a challenge.
the success of his ever-popular Emporium. Alison chose to settle in Clitheroe after a
Much of her time is spent looking for new delicious items to stock and producers to
rich and varied career in hotels which began,
champion but one of her early and enduring
when she and her sister were invited to be the
memories is meeting Adrian Rhodes at Carron
very first Europeans to work at the Taj Mahal
Lodge in Inglewhite near Preston, where she came
Intercontinental hotel, in Mumbai. She then
face to face with a herd of buffalo “I had no idea
worked in hotels in the UK, learning all she could
we had buffalo in Lancashire or that Adrian had
about customer service excellence and even had
built a ‘cave’ so that he could ripen this creamy
a spell working on a shipping tycoon’s yacht in
Inglewhite Buffalo cheese naturally.”
Cannes. Her marriage and her husband’s job took her, with her growing family, to Singapore but when she and her husband parted ways it was back to Clitheroe and to a new life in a place she had always called home. As Alison says “there’s not another place on earth I’d rather live.” A new challenge saw her managing the coffee shop at The Emporium, just opposite Clitheroe Castle, where she contributed greatly to its early expansion and success. In time she remarried and added to her family, taking her on a new path. In 2016, when James’s Holmes Mill project
Which she describes as “Just delicious, a bit like Stilton but creamier.’ Her discoveries and
was really starting to take shape, Alison was
stories of traditional family-run businesses, farm
offered the opportunity to help build his vision of
diversifications and artisan producers are plentiful
a destination celebrating food, drink and leisure;
and engaging but more than that, she’s invested
a perfect place to indulge, unwind and explore in
personally in bringing these to the attention of
the heart of Clitheroe. As buyer for the Food Hall
a much wider audience – which we can all be
she was charged with finding the best of Bowland
grateful for.
and beyond, to help create a retail experience like
“It’s not just a shop” says Alison as she looks
no other. As someone who had always appreciated
towards the beautifully dressed meat counter
the produce and provenance of Lancashire food
“There’s not one piece of meat here, for example,
and drink there was no-one better than Alison to
that we can’t tell you in detail how and where it
lead this quest and her passion and enthusiasm is
was reared. The producers feel like this food hall is
there for all to see, as she darts from one delicious
theirs and it’s helping keep family traditions alive.
counter to another, making sure everything is
“I don’t care if someone comes in to buy a
perfect for the customer and sharing her vast
single carrot or leek, they’re coming here because
knowledge of local producers with anyone willing
they know that it has been grown locally by
to listen.
someone who cares, and that really matters
The Food Hall is also a very handy larder for the Holmes Mill chefs, who know they can just
to people. “It’s all about sustainability, looking after
pop next door for anything they need “Everything
those who live and work their socks off to put
we use across the site is traceable and is available
great food on our tables.”
in the food hall, which is good for customers who want to take a little something to try at home.
And that’s where it all began with a table…