Double delight for north coast's Morelli Ice Cream at prestigious awards ceremony

Eddie, production manager at Morelli Ice Cream Ltd, Coleraine, was on hand to collect the accolades at this year's Ice Cream and Artisan Food Show as the great and the good from the country's ice cream world came together in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, to celebrate their 80th anniversary with their biggest-ever event.

Makers and sellers of the family favourite treat gathered at the Yorkshire Event Centre to showcase the best of the best with an award ceremony capping the three-day expo, organised by the Ice Cream Alliance, the trade body for the UK’s £1.4bn per year ice cream industry.

Morelli Ice Cream won awards for the Open Ice Cream Class Vanilla and Best of Vanilla and their success was met with excitement at the family-owned Coleraine business, established in the1900s.

The company is now led by the fourth generation of Morellis with the family carrying on the legacy from their great uncle's humble café in Coleraine, transforming it into Ireland's most famous Italian ice cream with locations across the north coast.

Eddie said: "You always have high hopes that the product would be considered for the win, but it's so very exciting to actually win; it is fantastic to pick up the awards.

"This is wonderful as it shows consistency, we are consistently hitting high quality and have been recognised by our industry. It is a very proud moment and means all the hard work that our production team puts in has paid off.”

The Ice Cream Alliance president Katy Alston, owner and founder of Pinks Vintage Ice Cream in Bognor Regis, West Sussex, was delighted with this year's event.

She had special praise for Morelli Ice Cream: "It’s great to see the business in amongst the awards, so thoroughly deserved; they are great ambassadors for the industry. This year’s expo was a big one for us as it’s our 80th anniversary and we couldn't be more delighted. We've had so many more visitors this year at the conference centre."