East Boldon deli Blacks Corner makes it into Vogue magazine for its must-have hampers

Blacks Corner Deli staff from left Elle Ramshaw, Nathan Bell and Lauren Gracie with the hampers that feature in Vogue magazine

Blacks Corner, which operates a restaurant on the corner of St Bedes and a sister site deli in nearby St John’s Terrace, has already built up a loyal local following thanks to its ethos of championing small-batch producers and providing a unique dining experience.

Now its hampers, which feature cheese, wines and charcuterie from its counters, have made it into the latest edition of UK Vogue as part of its regular lust list feature.

Their appearance in the prestigious fashion bible came completely out of the blue after Jonathan Dryden, who owns the South Tyneside business with Chris Lowden, received a call from one of the editorial team asking if they’d like to be in the April edition, which was released on March 6.

Blacks Corner Deli hampers feature in the April 20 edition of Vogue

“It was really organic, we haven’t worked with any influencers or sent Vogue one of the hampers,” he explained. “We do get orders for the hampers from around the country, however, so we can only think that one of the staff must have tried one or seen it on Instagram.

“We’ve tried to move away from traditional hampers with our product and it’s great to be recognised in this way.”

Prices vary for the hampers depending on their contents, which can either be paired by Blacks Corner staff or chosen by the customers themselves, ranging from £25 to £50 and above.

“As in our restaurant, we’re about independent growers and producers and the hampers are reflective of that,” Jonny added. “We give people the market stall experience in the restaurant in terms of explaining the produce and with the hampers, which come with information sheets, it’s a way of taking that experience home.”

Blacks Corner Deli hampers are featured in Vogue magazine

Lauren Gracie, business operations manager, said: “We have a choice of around 20 hampers and we try to direct people to those as they’re all paired, so everything goes together perfectly, but sometimes people like to choose their own and it’s great to be able to do that for them too.

“The hampers have become like my baby, so it’s great to see people enjoying them.”