Member Article

Careers on the menu as Latimers looks to reel in new talent

Award-winning café and deli, Latimer’s Seafood, is on the lookout for a new generation of North East seafood experts.

A great career is on the menu at one of the region’s favourite eating spots.

Award-winning North East seafood retailer Latimer’s is looking to find the next Rick Stein as it looks to reel in new talent to its apprenticeship programme.

The family-run deli & cafe in Whitburn, South Tyneside is on the lookout for a café crew recruit for its skilled hospitality apprenticeship scheme it runs in partnership with Gateshead College.

A large number of previous apprentices have gone on to have highly-successful careers at the business, once named Fishmonger of the Year.

Six apprentices have now successfully completed their training at Latimer’s with the latest, Chloe Swinhoe, qualifying just this month.

Chloe said:

“The opportunity to learn on the job in iconic business like Latimer’s was one in a million.

“Sometimes people don’t believe me when I tell them I work in the fishing industry but the skill is such an important part of the North East’s heritage and I’m proud to be carrying it on. And as long as people are eating fish, we’ll need fishmongers”.

One former-Apprentice is Gabrielle McCririck, from Whitburn, who joined Latimers as a hospitality apprentice and has now been with the business for five years.

She said:

“My apprenticeship with Latimer’s was the start of everything really - it helped me get my first car, my first place of my own, which wouldn’t have been possible without a skilled and secure job.

Owner Robert Latimer, is third generation fish expert, said:

“Everything about Latimer’s is local, from our produce to our staff. We’re proud to give local young people the chance of a modern career with traditional North East skills.

“The North East coast produces some of the best seafood in the world, but it also produces some of the best workers, and it’s critical for the future of fishing that those skills don’t die out.

“The skills we need are becoming harder and harder to find, but we make a virtue of that by developing our own staff in-house, and our apprentice’s enthusiasm and energy brings so much to Latimer’s.

“We support out staff every inch of the way and see our apprentices as an extension of the Latimer’s family.”

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