TWO friends from Hereford have officially opened their new catering business.

Daryl Richardson and Adam Pritchard, who live in the Hinton area of the city, have opened Smokemasters, a bespoke catering service providing premium smoked BBQ meats for weddings and corporate events.

What started out as a lockdown idea in the back garden of Mr Richardson's house in Hinton, has now developed into a fully fledged business.

Using their hand-made smoker that they have been preparing for the past few months, the pals will produce custom-made meat dishes for clients and food events.

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Mr Richardson said: "We came up with the idea as a hobby to get us through lockdown in 2020.

"It started when we brought our own smoker, and then we thought we could make an even better one and the idea kind of snowballed from there really."

"Adam hand built the current smoker in the back garden.

"We thought, what if we hitched it up to a trailer and made it mobile so we could cater for events and Smokemasters was born."

They have had the full rig for a couple of weeks now and have been inundated with requests.

Mr Richardson said: "The requests have come flooding in since we made our Instagram account and people got an idea of what we can offer."

The new businesses' first major food event is approaching this month.

The duo will be joining the autumn market at The Forge on Sunday, September 18.

It will be joining dozens of other small, independent outlets in showcasing its products at the event venue, near to the Wye Inn in Holme Lacy Road.

Mr Richardson said: "We've done all the preparation work now we just need to get out there and actually cook for some people."

Smokemasters are hoping that from small beginnings they can grow into something unique and popular.

Mr Richardson said: "A lot of people have opened barbecue-type outlets but there isn't many people out there who are doing the smoking side of it.

"There are lots of great food business in Herefordshire that have started from small ideas and hopefully we can do the same."