Angus tourism industry stars celebrated at Scottish Thistle Awards

WeeCOOK Kitchen in Carnoustie was named Best Eatery Experience in this year’s Scottish Thistle Awards regional finalists for Central, Fife & Tayside, at a ceremony in Prestonfield House Hotel in Edinburgh.

They will join Newton Farm Holidays and Tours in Montrose, which was awarded Best B&B or Guest House Experience, and Over Lunan by Aproxima Arts, which received the Outstanding Cultural Event or Festival award.

This year saw more than 500 entries submitted, including almost 1,000 nominations from members of the public keen to give hotels, restaurants, B&Bs, visitor attractions and individuals the opportunity to earn the recognition they deserve in the part they play in making Scotland such a fantastic place to visit.

WeeCOOK Kitchen aims to provide great service and cook tasty food for everyone, using locally sourced meat and seafood as much as possible.

The business received praise from judges for demonstrating a “real commitment to working with producers and ensuring their staff are telling the story to consumers.”

Commenting on the award, Hayley Wilkes, Chef/ Owner of WeeCOOK Kitchen said: “We are delighted and proud to accept this award not just for us but on behalf of all little independent hospitality businesses in this country who strive so hard in the most challenging of times to simply make a living for themselves and their staff by doing a job we love doing.

"It is an absolute honour to be recognised within the industry, amongst our peers and alongside the amazingly talented scottish businesses we look up to an aspire to emulate.

"Everything we do is of course thanks to our awesome team, our supportive families and of course our amazing customers who enable us to continue to develop and succeed and have fun doing work we have a genuine passion for.”

Regional winners will now come head-to-head with competition from other tourism businesses and events across Scotland at the National Final taking place in February 2023.