Gok Wan TV show cooks up new trade for Scunthorpe food store

An oriental store has seen a boost in trade, thanks to a cooking television show.

Trade Winds, based on Cole Street in Scunthorpe, has seen sales double since late May.

Store bosses put the increase down to the Gok Cooks Chinese series, where fashion guru Gok Wan drew on his Chinese heritage to give a different angle on how to eat.

Dominic Ryan, assistant manager of Trade Winds, said the store had recorded increased business from the day after the first of the six episodes was shown on May 21.

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And he said this had continued after the series ended on June 25.

Mr Ryan said: "Since Gok Wan's programme, sales have increased 100 per cent.

"It has had an impact on customers coming into the store to buy woks and ingredients.

"The summer is usually our quietest period, so it is great to see new customers coming in.

"We sell most of the ingredients that were featured on the show.

"It has had a really positive impact. Scunthorpe is quite an ethnic community. We are getting repeat customers now and it has brought in new customers."

May Ryan, owner of Trade Winds, said: "We have a lot of English people coming into our shop and we get lots of local people in."

Trade Winds is a family-run business that was formed in 1984.

Its roots can be traced back to Scunthorpe Market and it was also based on Mary Street, before later moving to its current location on Cole Street.

All of the food sold by the store is imported from the Far East.

In the Channel 4 series, Leicester-born Gok, whose father is Chinese, gave a personal and modern take on the Chinese food he grew up eating.

Mr Ryan said he thought the show was positive as it encouraged people to try new things.

He said: "I think generally over time more and more people are getting into Asian cooking.

"It is very easy to make the recipes on Gok's show. It is easy to cook Asian food and it is not as difficult as people think it is."

Trade Winds' food selection includes Indian spices, Chinese sauces, Thai ingredients, Filipino seasonings and other authentic culinary items from south-east Asia.

See tradewindsorientalshop.co.uk