THE owner of the village pub at South Wraxall has been crowned winner of the Tiptree World Bread Awards Heroes after turning his kitchen into a bakery during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown.

Rob Allcock, owner and head chef of The Longs Arms, was selected as overall winner, after winning the South West region.

Mr Allcock was forced to close his pub in South Wraxall due to the restrictions of Covid-19 but he didn’t close the doors completely.

He took the bold and radical decision to completely transform his business and convert the pub kitchen into a bakery to serve the local community.

Mr Allcock said: "Well, it’s simply very humbling that the village and our customers thought us worthy for nomination in such an amazing award."

Charli Boddington, one of Rob’s nominators said: "The entire village is reliant on his delicious output. He has certainly kept the village smiling."

In normal times, the Tiptree World Bread Hero Awards celebrate the bread; hundreds of loaves would be delivered for assessment by a panel of esteemed judges.

Instead, in a special edition for 2020, the awards organisers decided to recognise the people behind the loaves: the bakers, millers and farmers.

Hundreds of nominations for the Bread Heroes were sent in from across the country.

Stephen Hallam, chairman of the Judges, said: "All the nominees in this year’s awards truly deserve recognition for their generous, considerate and often altruistic initiatives to help others."

Twelve regional winners were selected by the judging panel. One of the judges, Emma Freud, executive producer for Comic Relief, said: "These nominees were so well found - each of them have done remarkable things for their communities, using their talent with bread to make life easier for people who need support. It was a seriously tough choice, but I am confident we got the right winners."

Scott Goodfellow, joint managing director, Tiptree, said: "The efforts of the bread community during these challenging times have been truly inspiring.

"We are delighted that this year’s awards have been able to shine a light on their incredible endeavours."

An exhibition of portraits by photographer Henry Kenyon of the 12 Bread Heroes will tour the UK, including a display at the City Food Lecture 2021, the annual lecture on the future of the food industry, organised by the seven food-related City of London livery companies.