Barry Topp of New Forest Cider in Burley presented with Coopers’ Award for Craftsmanship at Royal Bath and West Show
A PRODUCER has been honoured for making an outstanding contribution to keeping standards of craft cider-making alive.
Barry Topp, of New Forest Cider in Burley, received this year’s Coopers’ Award for Craftsmanship at the Royal Bath and West Show.
He was presented with the accolade by the clerk of the Worshipful Company of Coopers, Wing Commander Stephen Borthwick, at the show’s orchards and cider exhibition.
Barry started making cider when he inherited a small-holding in the New Forest, complete with orchard.
He soon became an enthusiastic producer and salesman, taking his cider to all manner of local shows and events.
His greatest achievement was to take his cider to London – first to Greenwich and Southwark markets, and then to the central hub of the London food and drink scene, Borough Market.
His thatched trailer, laden with cider barrels, became a familiar sight as he headed across the Hammersmith flyover at the crack of dawn every Friday.
Among the countless Londoners who enjoyed seeing it was Terry Wogan, who loved referring to it on his BBC Radio Two Breakfast Show.
Barry’s cider wagon has now become the London Cider House, still in Borough Market but now run by Barry’s daughter Mary, with several other well-known cider makers including Tom Oliver, Ted Dwane of Mumford and Sons and merchant Felix Nash.
In 2007, Barry started the New Forest Cider Festival with another well-known maker and advocate, the late Albert Rixen. The event has since gone from strength to strength, raising thousands of pounds for local charities.
Cider author and poet James Crowden recalled how Barry had approached him in a marquee several years back, citing an email he had received from a woman in India, asking for his help in making cider.
“He wasn’t sure whether to go or not, so I told him just to go, and he did,” said Mr Crowden. “Spreading the gospel of good cider first to London and then to India!
“It doesn’t get much more influential than that, which is why this award is so thoroughly deserved.”
