A BAR and restaurant is the toast of Selkirk after winning the Best Scottish Cuisine title at Food Awards Scotland 2019.

The celebration of the country's best restaurants, takeaways, pubs, hotel restaurants, cafes and bistros was held last week in Glasgow.

Within the restaurant category it was the The Fleece Bar & Kitchen which was announced as cream of the crop when it comes to presenting Scottish cuisine.

Trevor and Tracey Ward, who have owned the historic Selkirk inn since 2016, were delighted with the latest accolade.

Tracey told us: "We’re absolutely delighted to have been awarded this accolade which celebrates the very best Scotland has to offer in the hospitality industry.

"To win the category of Best Scottish Cuisine when we’re a family run restaurant situated in a small Borders town, is testament to the commitment and focus of our staff and the support we have from our customers and the community.

"There were some great, long established restaurants in our category and for us to have come out on top was a welcome surprise!”

Over the past three years the Wards, along with trainee chef son Ryan, have been rewarded with a regular stream of five-star reviews from delighted customers.

And the awards shelf is filling up as quickly as their restaurant diary.

Another Borders establishment which was also honoured last week at the Food Awards Scotland was Stewarts Cafe Bistro in Jedburgh.

The High Street business was named as the regional Cafe/Bistro winner.

Creative Oceanic has been organising and hosting the awards for the past six years.

CEO Irfan Younis told us: “Congratulations to all winners and finalists at the sixth Food Awards Scotland 2019.

"We welcomed and rewarded some of the best in the Scottish food industry who serve us up some of the tastiest food, enhance our culture, deliver top quality customer service and provide us with some of the best banter around. All winners and finalists should feel immensely proud as the competition was tough this year.”