The Victorian tradition, Stir Up Sunday, marking the stirring of the Christmas pudding mixture while making a wish, has come early this year at North Somerset's The Food Works SW with Butcombe Brewery.

Based in Bristol, the brewery recently prepared enough Christmas pudding mixture at the food and drink innovation centre in Weston-Super-Mare to make 1,000 Christmas puddings, in readiness for the festive period.

Butcombe's chefs also used the opportunity to perfect other Christmas menu items.

Weston Mercury: The chefs spent a week in the specialist kitchens at The Food WorksThe chefs spent a week in the specialist kitchens at The Food Works (Image: The Food Works SW)

The chefs, who came from various parts of the country including from the Liberation pub group in Jersey, honed their skills over a week.

Under the supervision of head development chef Jasper Prickett, they prepared a series of festive dishes including sticky figgy pudding, toffee apple, fig and chestnut crumble, mince pie ice cream, gilt head bream and Ox Cheek Wellington.

Mr Prickett said: "The Christmas pudding mixture we made in the commercial kitchen at The Food Works SW is now currently steeping and then it will be ready to be shaped and steamed for the festive season and sent to all our pubs for Christmas Day,"

Zoe Plant, new product and innovation manager at The Food Works SW, said: "Our top-of-the-range equipment within each of our kitchens, like the commercial kitchen Butcombe used, really do offer the perfect space for chefs and producers the opportunity to come in, experiment, develop and fine-tune food and drink products or menus."

The five specialist kitchens can be rented from just one day, offering great flexibility to suit varying needs and budgets.

Located less than 30 minutes from Bristol and conveniently close to Junction 21 of the M5 motorway, The Food Works SW provides state-of-the-art facilities.

These include five product development kitchens that are available for flexible short-term contract hire starting from only £96.90 per day.

Integral to the facility are the technical support packages provided by a team of food industry experts to assist businesses in areas such as new product development, food safety and efficiency.

Those interested in learning more about how The Food Works SW can benefit businesses can visit their website, or stay updated by following them on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.