Islands to Highlands featured an episode based in Jersey on 9 April in which he visited a number of the Island’s culinary hotspots with his friend Mark Jordan, who runs a restaurant near La Haule.
One of Mr Martin’s stops was at La Mare Wine Estate in St Mary, where he sampled one of Jersey’s traditional delicacies – black butter.
La Mare managing director Tim Crowley said that his business had suffered huge drops in revenue during the lockdown, having lost the ability to host weddings and because of the lack visiting tourists.
But he added that the recent development of a website to sell the estate’s goods, as well as the publicity of appearing on national TV, had provided a boost during what had been a difficult period.
‘We had a bit of luck in that we had developed the website and after the appearance with James Martin we received thousands more orders,’ he said. ‘It was a real boost at the time, because it was aired at the start of the lockdown. It was much needed.’
Mr Crowley added that as much as 90% of his business could have been lost due to the lockdown.
‘We can’t hold weddings at the moment and we don’t know when we will be able to again,’ he said. ‘We also accept that there is probably going to be no tourism season this year and that affects retail in our shop in town.
‘We are reopening our restaurant and shop this week. But with the restaurant the margins were already slim and if you have fewer customers due to
distancing, you are going to make zero profit.
‘Right now we are thinking about what things are going to look like in the future, because I don’t think it is going to go back to normal. Changes will have to be made – but that’s OK.’
