THREE years of investments have seen a poultry business named Processor of the Year at a national awards.

The team at T. Soanes and Son won the accolade of Poultry Processor of the Year at the Pig and Poultry Marketing Awards.

Nigel Upson, general manager of the Middleton on the Wolds based business was presented with the prize at a Celebration Luncheon at the London Marriott County Hall last week.

He said: "We are delighted and honoured to receive this prestigious industry award. It is the culmination of three years' investment and consolidation and a real credit to the whole team who have worked tirelessly to get Soanes where it is today."

Organised by Grove House Publishing, the Pig and Poultry Marketing Awards celebrate the pig and poultry industries and bring together representatives spanning the food chain from primary production, breeding, processing, branding, marketing and retail.

The luncheon was presented by Sean Sparling and speaker, Nathan Ward from Kantar Worldpanel.

The win comes on the back of Best Medium Business of the Year at the Hull Daily Mail Business Awards and a Highly Commended award for Soanes' Large Free Range Chicken at the Beverley Food Festival and East Yorkshire Local Food Network awards.

T.Soanes and Son is a family owned business which has been rearing and preparing chicken for 69 years. It rears more than five million chickens a year on its Yorkshire Wolds farms and sells its chicken and game to butchers and independent retailers in Yorkshire and to wholesalers nationwide.