EP77 | The Colmans | Cake, Colmans and Community | Local Heroes Podcast

This week on the Local Heroes Podcast, Chris and Dan welcome Richard and Dominic Colman back to the studio to talk about an extraordinary year for one of South Shields’ best-known hospitality families. A century after the Colman family first entered the food business, the brothers reflect on reaching their 100-year milestone, creating an exhibition at South Shields Museum, opening new venues and continuing a family story built around food, hard work and the town they call home. We hear about their plans to transform a much-loved Whitburn café, preserving its history while creating the next chapter with great breakfasts, Sunday lunches, cakes and elevated versions of the British classics people grew up with. The conversation explores what makes a brilliant full English, why simple food is often the hardest to get right, the importance of local produce and how Richard and Dominic develop new ideas — usually around a table, late at night and with plenty of food involved. They also share plans for the new Sandhaven Coastal Village, bringing beach huts, independent businesses, food, retail and community activity together on the South Shields seafront — close to the site where their family’s hospitality story began. And, as always, things head wildly off course. There are hypothetical drinks flowing from fingers, condiment hands, curry sauce secrets, 84 eggs, chicken-wing world records, Black Forest gateau, nostalgic sweet shops, tinned mixed grills, sausage menus designed by a seven-year-old and a very serious debate about whether hash browns belong on a full English. Funny, hungry and full of ideas — a conversation about family, food, legacy, creativity and building the next 100 years of the Colman story.