New farm-to-fork restaurant is Lancashire's only finalist in national Visit England Awards for Excellence 2025

Eight at Gazegill by Doug Crampton, recently won the Lancashire Tourism Award for New Business of the year.

Now it has been named was one of 52 national finalists, selected following a rigorous judging process by handpicked tourism industry experts, go on to compete in 16 core categories at the Visit England Awards for Excellence, with the awards presented at a ceremony at Brighton Dome Corn Exchange on June 4.

Competing for Gold, Silver and Bronze in this year’s national New Tourism Business of the Year category alongside Eight at Gazegill by Doug Crampton are Ad Gefrin Anglo-Saxon Museum & Whisky Distillery, in Northumberland, and Eureka! Science + Discovery, on Merseyside.

Vikki Harris, Marketing and Partnerships Director of Marketing Lancashire said: “We are absolutely thrilled to see Eight at Gazegill in the list of finalists for this year’s national Visit England Awards for Excellence, especially in the new business category which shows how new tourism businesses can come to life and flourish in Lancashire.

“It was a long-held dream of Gazegill Organics to open a truly sustainable farm-to-fork restaurant on their ancestral family farm and they have done this with incredible style, under the experienced and acclaimed chef Doug Crampton.

“Congratulations to the whole Gazegill team on achieving this national recognition and we look forward to supporting you at the ceremony in June.”

VisitEngland Director Andrew Stokes said: “England’s tourism industry has good reason to celebrate. As the finalists demonstrate, businesses across every region provide outstanding customer service along with high quality experiences while constantly innovating to find new ways to give more to visitors and the communities they serve.

“The applications to this year’s awards and the list of finalists are a testament to the range of first-class products on offer to both domestic and international visitors. I congratulate all the finalists who are already winners, and I wish them the very best of luck.”

How finalists were chosen

This year’s national awards worked in collaboration with 21 regional competitions from across England with winners automatically put forward for the national awards. There were 1,800 applications to the 21 aligned regional awards with 360 applicants forwarded for judging in the VisitEngland Awards for Excellence.