Scotty Brand sees Ayrshire spuds reach Asdas both sides of Border

Scotty Brand has bagged a UK-wide listing with Asda for its Ayrshire new potatoes, joining its strawberries and raspberries that launched in the supermarket earlier this summer.

Kent-based Jamie McCoo will no longer need to travel1,000 miles to get his beloved Ayrshire potatoes. Picture: Peter Sandground

The food producer’s Girvan-grown seasonal listing will seen the product, which now has EU protected geographical indication status, in more than 200 Asda stores in Scotland and England from Sunday.

Scotty Brand expects to sell well over 1,000 tonnes this season, the equivalent of the weight of 79 double decker buses or 111,000 Scotty dogs.

Retired electrician Jamie McCoo last year made 1,000-mile round trip from his home in Kent to stock up on his favourite spuds, as they weren’t available south of the Border.

He said “I’m thrilled that I don’t have to make my annual pilgrimage from Kent to Scotland to collect my Ayrshire potatoes this year. People think I’m bonkers, but these potatoes were a big part of my childhood and my mother always told me that the first dig produced the best batch."

Richard Allison, general manager of Scotty Brand, added: “PGI status is a huge benefit to Ayrshire new potatoes since it gives legal standing to our claim that they are a special food.

“The growing conditions of the Ayrshire region, combined with the experience and skill of the growers, make this a unique product which cannot be replicated elsewhere.”