An Anglican priest who left showbiz  to help the needy is Wellingtonian of the Year.

Father Des Britten, who retired in July after 17 years at the helm of Wellington City Mission, was announced as the supreme award winner at last night's ceremony in the Amora Hotel.

He took over the mission in 1994, increased the staff from seven to about 30, and shouldered the task of feeding hundreds of people a week.

In the 1970s Father Britten hosted two television shows, Thyme for Cookery and Bon Appetit, and wrote several cookbooks. He was also the owner of top Wellington restaurant The Coachman.

Before that, he was a disc jockey who entertained up to 3000 kids who would turn up to his Coca-Cola Hi-Fi Club dances in the Town Hall.

Speaking to the Dominion Post this year, he revealed his association with the mission began around the same time The Coachman opened, although his work was not well known then.

"From the restaurant, we used to take the prized onion soup that people would pay a fortune for. We'd take bucket-loads of it to the mission. That was the very early 1970s, my first association with the mission.

 "We did it for many years, just the soup. There was no kitchen in the men's room, nowhere to serve it. It was a very dismal room."

Father Britten, who has been married for 49 years to wife Lorraine and was ordained a priest in 1983, has described himself as an "ordinary old Anglican".

Lorraine joined him at the mission a couple of years after he took over and worked alongside him, manning the office and writing thank-you letters.

After the demise of The Coachman, Father Britten kept up his interest in food by writing newspaper restaurant reviews, including for the Dominion and the Dominion Post, talking about food and demonstrating cooking, sometimes with other cooks.

He fronted a television campaign about cheese for the New Zealand Dairy Board and toured overseas as an official ambassador for the dairy and meat industry.

In 1995, he was honoured by the Food Service Association for his contribution to the industry with admittance to the association's Hall of Fame.

Father Britten's award and the winners of nine category awards were applauded by their friends, family and other notable Wellingtonians at last night's awards dinner.