Leamington's businesses honoured at awards ceremony

The event, held on Friday November 9 and sponsored by The Box Factory, celebrated some of Leamington’s best business success stories, while raising over £5,000 for local charity, Helping Hands.

Leamington business Bellagio Stone was crowned Business of the Year following strong performances in a number of categories across the awards.

Judge Jonathan Smith said the independent company had shown strong customer service and a positive commitment to staff training and development, as well as solid growth over a number of years.

The black-tie ceremony, organised by chartered accountants and business advisers Harrison Beale & Owen (HB&O), was presided over by Master of Ceremonies, Dave Sharpe, and featured a three-course dinner and drinks, with entertainment and a charity raffle, as well as the awards presentation.

Mark Ashfield, managing director of HB&O said: “The Leamington Business Awards has a long tradition of supporting local charities.

“We were delighted to be able to present Lianne Kirkman from Helping Hands with a cheque for £5056.80 thanks to the support of all those who attended the event, as well as our many sponsors and supporters, who gave time and funds to help ensure the awards was a success.”

It was a great night for Helping Hands as the charity also won the Not for Profit Excellence Award, and walked away from the event with the promise of an oven for their soup kitchen, donated by Aubrey Allen, following a plea made at the start of the evening.

Lianne said: “I’m overwhelmed with the support we have had from the Leamington Business Awards.

“The night was particularly special because one of our guests was someone who had been unemployed and living in a garage before Helping Hands provided support – he is now kitchen manager at Coffee Architects and living in a house with a great future ahead of him.

“Our work is only possible thanks to the donations and support we receive, and the Leamington Business Awards has given us a great boost.”

Other award winners on the night included pub-restaurant, The Drawing Room, scooped the New Business of the Year Award while The Leamington Wine Company secured the top spot in the most hotly contested category – Independent Business of the Year.

Customer Service Excellence, which included a mystery shopping exercise by Shopper Anonymous to aid the judging, was won by Heart of England Cooperative Funeral Care, while the Outstanding Achievement award was won by the Warwickshire Crisis Outreach Service Team.