After years of living as students in Newcastle eating boring food, Thomas Sowler and Oliver Nohl-Oser decided to put their skills into action, and formed The Cumbrian Sausage Company. Working closely with experienced butchers in Cumbria, they perfected the very best sausages. This is done by combining proper shoulder pork with fresh herbs and then filling them into natural skins. Nothing artificial is added in the process. We use a much higher meat content than the majority of sausage makers and this is very evident in the taste. Shoulder meat is the purest and softest meat to come from a pig, and therefore the texture of the sausages is improved and there are no fatty bits to be found.
Starting in 2006, the business has changed a little over the years. Initially most of their customers were small delicatessen shops down in London but logistics meant that this was uneconomic. Undetered, they moved into supplying some of London's top restaurants which we still do to this day. Food writer Tom Parker-Bowles was very complementary about the business and called it "an inspired idea". They have also received good reviews in The Independent and were highly commended in Country Life Magazine's Search for Britain's Best Banger competition 2010 at the Oriental Mandarin, Hyde Park, judged by Daniel Boulud, of barboulud.com
In 2007 they expanded into selling packs and serving hot sausages in rolls directly to the public via farmers' markets, then in 2010 moved into gourmet catering at large sports and music festivals. In order to expand the business fully the plan now is to focus on growth throughout the UK, and internationally also into Middle East and Asia markets supplying fine food shops, and other major retailers. The company's products were highly commended in the 2014 Quality Food Awards and won Great Taste Awards in 2015!. They have certainly proved popular so far and both Oliver and Thomas have high hopes for continued success in 2017!
The company's products are available from Ocado and selected Tesco stores in NW England. See http://www.thecumbriansausage.co.uk for further details on stockists.