CK We’re approaching Christmas and the end of another year – it’s flown by hasn’t it! It’s been a great year for Tonbridge and the Eat Around Tonbridge blog.
We started the year with the popular “12 Days of Feastmas” competition – I hope the winners have enjoyed their prizes during the year!
In February I ran “Bring a Friend February” which encouraged you to introduce a friend to an eating spot in Tonbridge. Here is the lovely Alice Backlog in Beyond the Grounds – during our conversation on this day, the seeds of Kingdom Yoga were taking root with Alice and now look at it! You never know what you might discover over a cup of coffee!
As always I reviewed some local places including The Bakehouse at 124’s pizza night and The Dovecote pub at Capel, and supported those working from home in this industry. I’ve followed a family trying to eschew supermarkets and once again supported the Kent Life Food and Drink Awards. Thank you if you nominated somewhere or someone and especially if they were from Tonbridge. Awards are not just a pat on the back for small businesses; they provide promotion & recognition across the county, and even country, which can help with expansion, finding new suppliers and of course, staff attraction and retention. We had two finalists, Sulston’s Kitchen (second year as a finalist, winner in 2016!) and Beyond the Grounds. Sadly they didn’t win but being a finalist is a fantastic achievement and attracts publicity. Well done to both of them for their success!
Tonbridge saw the arrival of Creams Factory, Sankey’s the Fishmongers, and the Portuguese Grill House, amongst others, and a revival of the old Mojo’s as Dan from The Ivy House transformed it into The Clock House, an horologist’s dream! Sadly we said goodbye to Graze but we look forward to seeing how that space develops in 2018 as well as the Nelson Arms.
Eat Around Tonbridge collaborated with Thomson Snell and Passmore, The Old Fire Station and Sankey’s to create the Kent Food and Drink Networking Club. This networking group is for anyone involved with the food and drink industry, from chefs and cafe owners to photographers and bloggers like me! We’ve hosted two events so far and the invitations have just been sent for the third, to be held in January in Tonbridge. If you’d like to be invited, please email me eatreviewer@gmail.com. At the last event, deals were struck so if you’re involved in food production, retail, hospitality or catering, it’s worth attending.
Thanks to the blog, I have set-up my own business, Caroline Kings, as a freelance writer. I love writing and the blog reminded me of that – it’s great that it’s now my living. I write for all sorts of industries and sectors, the variety is amazing! If you’d like to see what I’m up to, you can find my Facebook page here – website is under construction.
And then lastly I finish the year on a high as a finalist in the So Magazine Lifestyle awards! Thanks to everyone who nominated me to help me reach the finals. If you’d like to vote for me then you can do so here. I’d like to congratulate everyone that made the finals – hopefully see you on 8 Feb!
Thank you for supporting the blog and more importantly, supporting Tonbridge. The town continues to go from strength to strength and that’s all down to the wonderful community spirit and support for local businesses. From what I know, 2018 is going to be exciting for the foodie scene in Tonbridge! Watch this space!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
Eat Reviewer x
