British Consul General tours - & tastes – his way around Methuen

By Nancy Reardon
MethuenLife Writer

In late March, Mayor David “DJ” Beauregard welcomed to our city British Consul General to New England David Clay, taking him on a tour of Methuen which even included a taste of home.

“It was great to have the chance to welcome British Consul General David Clay to Methuen to introduce him to the great food and people at Thwaites Market,” Beauregard said. “He was quite impressed! It’s always fun to introduce visitors and dignitaries to all that our city has to offer.”

The Consul General is the senior UK official in a Consulate General, which is a subordinate office to the Embassy or High Commission, usually located in another major city. The Consul General represents the UK government and is typically responsible for consular, visa and trade activities in their city or region. Based in Boston, Clay took over this role last August.

Beauregard and Clay were joined by Head of Politics and Press and Public Relations to the British Consul Alec Scicchitano, Methuen Economic and Community Development Director Jack Wilson and City Council Chairman Ron Marsan.

After a drive through the city viewing landmarks including the Searles Estate, their next stop was Thwaites Market. Store manager Abbey Hoffman and her dad Ken Greenwood gave the visitors a brief history of the store, which has been providing English delicacies to the community for almost 100 years, and a tour including showing off some of their traditional pie-making tools. Of course, the visit included savory bites of Thwaites’ traditional English pork pies and Scotch eggs.

When asked what he thought of the pie, Clay replied happily, “This is fantastic!”

Ken then handed him a Scotch egg and the consul general’s response was, “Absolutely delicious!”

The British Consul General left the store with two boxes of pies (which he insisted on paying for) to bring home to his family.