London Gatwick champions local businesses in supplier showcase
- London Gatwick’s unique role in the region connects local businesses with airport retailers and hospitality partners
- 35 suppliers attended the Meet the Local Producer event, building on the airport’s commitment to help businesses in the region to grow and promote local produce
London Gatwick brought together 35 of the region’s upcoming and leading food, drink and homeware producers with airport retailers, restaurants and hotels to help local businesses scale up operations and create new opportunities with buyers.
The Meet the Local Producer event welcomed suppliers from across Sussex, Surrey and Kent. From award-winning sparkling wines and small-batch craft beers to artisan chocolates and homewares, the event celebrated the diversity and quality of goods produced in the region.
Airport partners including Avolta, GAIL’s Bakery and Lagardère met with local businesses such as Horsham Gingerbread, Jam Packed Preserves and Squerryes Winery. Representatives from SALSA, the food and drink safety certification scheme, were on hand to offer guidance to producers looking to scale up and meet the requirements of larger buyers.
London Gatwick has a unique position in the region to support local enterprise, which is a key part of the airport's work to enhance the Gatwick Region Airport Economic Zone (AEZ), created to unlock the collective potential of the region by leveraging the strategic role of London Gatwick.
The event builds on London Gatwick’s ongoing commitment to champion local and regional produce, as part of its sustainability strategy, Decade of Change.
London Gatwick is also a proud supporter of the Sussex Six campaign, which encourages greater visibility of Sussex products. A total of 32 Sussex-born products are now on sale to a global audience across retail outlets, restaurants and bars.
Richard Lennard, Economic Partnerships Manager, London Gatwick said: “We’re incredibly proud to have brought together such a vibrant mix of local producers and airport retailers. Events like this are a powerful way to showcase the quality and creativity of our region while helping businesses spark long-term opportunities. Supporting local enterprise is a key part of our strategy and we’ll continue to explore new ways to champion the incredible producers on our doorstep.”
Barry Drennan, Sales Manager, from Hepworth Brewery in West Sussex said: “Being at London Gatwick puts local producers on a national and international stage and their ethos is all about making sure local businesses are part of the conversation, not on the sidelines. The event was a fantastic opportunity to meet buyers face-to-face and showcase the incredible quality we have in the South East. What makes it even more valuable is being part of a collective - together we can raise visibility and show the strength of local businesses in one place.”
The Meet the Local Producer event followed London Gatwick’s Economic Summit, which last week brought together more than 200 senior leaders from business, government and industry to explore how the Gatwick Region can drive further sustainable growth, inward investment and innovation across the South East and beyond.
Local producers in attendance:
Aquapax
Artelium Wine Estate
Baked Worthing
Batts Hill Distillers
Bolney Wine Estate
Bookham Harrison Farms
Brilliant Gin
Catherine’s Originals
Chalk Hills Bakery
Chef’s Farms
Chimney Fire Coffee
Cocoa Loco
Crumbs Brewing
Cuckfield Coffee Co.
DoodlePippin
Emilia Hunt
Hepworth Brewery
High Weald Dairy
Horsham Gingerbread
In the Loop Drinks
Jam Packed Preserves
Juthan Chocolate
Long Man Brewery
Loxwood Meadworks
Mountfield Winery
Mousehall Distillery & Winery
Ridgeview Wine Estate
Ruby’s Bakery
Silent Moo Cider
Silent Pool
Spirit of the Downs
Squerryes
Stopham Vineyard
The Surrey Copper Distillery
Veteran Gin
Airport partners in attendance:
Airport Retail Enterprises
Arora Group
Avolta
Blue Apple
Boots
DHL
Excess Baggage
GAIL's Bakery
Gatwick Turret Guesthouse
Lagardère
PG Group Vending
SSP (M&S Simply Food)
Sknfed
Starbucks
TRG - The Restaurant Group
- WHSmith
With 43m annual passengers, London Gatwick is the UK’s second largest and one of Europe’s top ten airports. It is a vital piece of national infrastructure that drives both the national and regional economies by generating £5.5bn GVA and supporting over 76,000 jobs (2023). Almost 60 airlines fly from the airport to over 150 short-haul and more than 50 long-haul destinations. With a declared capacity of 55 movements an hour, London Gatwick is the most efficient single runway airport in the world.
The airport is located 28 miles south of the UK capital and is extremely well-connected, with more than a quarter of England’s population (15m people) – including all of London – less than one hour away by road or rail. A six-year, £2bn sustainable growth programme includes an ambitious plan to be a net zero airport by 2030 and to increase capacity by bringing the airport’s existing Northern Runway into routine use, alongside its Main Runway. VINCI Airports owns a 50.01% stake in the airport, with Global Infrastructure Partners managing the remaining 49.99%.
VINCI Airports, as the leading private airport operator in the world, manages the development and operation of more than 70 airports located in 14 countries. VINCI Airports draws on its expertise as a comprehensive integrator to develop, finance, build and operate airports, leveraging its investment capability and know-how to optimise operational performance and modernise infrastructure while bringing about their environmental transition. In 2016, VINCI Airports became the first airport operator to commit to an international environmental strategy, setting itself the aim of reaching zero net emissions (scope 1 and 2) across the network by 2050 while supporting the territories’ local climate transition.
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Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), a part of BlackRock, is a leading infrastructure investor that specialises in investing in, owning and operating some of the largest and most complex assets across the energy, transport, digital infrastructure and water and waste management sectors. With energy pragmatism central to our investment thesis, we are well positioned to support the global energy transition.
GIP’s scaled platform has over $170bn in assets under management. We believe that our focus on real infrastructure assets, combined with our deep proprietary origination network and comprehensive operational expertise, enables us to be responsible stewards of our clients’ capital and to create positive economic impact for communities. For more information, visit www.global-infra.com.
