Minister for Rural Affairs opens Royal Welsh Food Hall
The Royal Welsh Agricultural Society’s new £1.6m Food Hall on the showground at Llanelwedd, Builth Wells, was officially opened by the Minister for Rural Affairs, Elin Jones.
The new building, the Minister said, would be a major attraction at the Royal Welsh Show creating a stage for Welsh food and drink producers to promote their quality products to the people of Wales and the rest of the UK.
Congratulating the Royal Welsh and its supporters on their ambition and determination in creating the new venue, she said the Welsh Assembly Government will work with the society to develop the Food Hall for the enjoyment of visitors to the show and had agreed a sponsorship deal with the RWAS for the next three years worth £270,000.
As well as providing an opportunity for producers to display their wares, the Food Hall had an important role to play in raising the profile of the Wales food brand – Wales the True Taste.
The Wales the True Taste awards ceremony will take place at the Food Hall in 2012, she said.
The chairman of the Royal Welsh Council, Alun Evans, said the society was delighted that after six years of discussion and planning the new Food Hall was in place. It was a fine building that made good use of a prime site. It provided twice the exhibition space of the old one and could accommodate 53 exhibitors.
Each unit had essential under-floor services including water, drainage and electricity, and mains gas could be supplied to those exhibitors who required it. Mechanical ventilation had also been incorporated which, with wider aisles, would make the climate in the building more comfortable for everyone.
The Food Hall, he said, had been financed with money raised in the society’s Centenary Year in 2004 amounting to £442,964, and by contributions from four feature counties – Carmarthen, featured at the show in 2005, (£180,000); Clwyd, featured in 2008 (£202,359); last year’s feature county, Glamorgan, (£280,685) and Ceredigion, the feature county this year, which to date had raised £273,013 towards the project. Further contributions had been made from the society’s Dividend and Special Food Hall accounts.
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