TWO Bury restaurants have netted prestigious awards at this year’s Manchester Food and Drink Festival.

Ramsbottom’s Baratxuri, a Basque style Pintxo bar, won awards for Casual Restaurant of the Year and Best Out of Town venue and The Clarence, in the heart of Bury, was named Food Pub of the Year.

Staff from both restaurants were presented with the awards at the Gala Dinner, attended by 360 guests, for the 20th anniversary of the festival, held at Manchester’s Principal Hotel.

Baratxuri’s owner, Joe Botham, said: “We are over the moon.

“MFDF is one of the most prestigious awards in the area, and we have worked with them since starting, when we were doing street food.

“ It is lovely just to be nominated, but then to win, we are absolutely thrilled.

“It is always wonderful to get some recognition for doing something different and for authentic Basque dishes.

“It was our second birthday on Sunday, so this was a nice little birthday present.”

The Clarence beat off six other pubs, including the Hearth of the Ram, Ramsbottom, and the White Heart, Oldham, to clinch the title of Best Food Pub for the second time.

“It is a fantastic honour and great to bring the award back to Bury,” said Adam Comstive, marketing manager at Hollinworth & Price, which owns The Clarence.

Mr Comstive puts The Clarence’s success down to their traditional English menu twisted with inventive ideas, led by their head chef Liam Rutherford.

“It is great to see food in Bury, Ramsbottom and north Manchester is really developing,” he said.

“It is a great food town and always has been.”

The awards ceremony was the grand finale of the 11 day festival which was attended by more than 100,000 people.

In the run up to the awards, the restaurants were ‘mystery visited’ by judges and also voted for by members of the public.