Successes for Poundbury businesses!
- jerrycooke87
- Apr 7
- 3 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
With entries up on last year the fifth annual Dorchester Business Awards saw over twenty businesses celebrate a win last week at the awards ceremony at the Corn Exchange. It was an occasion for smiles for the towns hospitality businesses with the AA Rosette holder Al Molo picking up Restaurant of the Year, eatery Myra’s Korean and Japanese Restaurant awarded silver in New Business of the Year and town favourite, The Horse with the Red Umbrella, also picking up a silver award.
Over seventy local business people were joined by the sponsors, the local BID and Town Council to recognise the success of the independent local businesses that make Dorchester such a great place to shop, live and work. At the start of the awards their was a spontaneous request by John Fiori, long-time local business owner, for a round of applause for all the towns businesses that are facing, like the rest of the UK, such challenges at the moment.
Organiser Nigel Reeve said ‘It’s tough at the moment for many businesses and also charities but today’s awards are a testament to the hard work and entrepreneurial spirit shown to meet challenges. It’s all about giving and helping each other and also we know charities are finding it harder fund raising in these time so our chosen charity in Dorchester was Dorchester Poverty Action that do so much good work for individuals in the town struggling’
The overall business was won by Antelope Walk based Sage & Fern Florist, whose owner Jenny Lee Baker was voted Young Entrepreneur alongside Ian Denslow of inspiring business Dorset Neuro Rehab, and both received their awards from sponsor the Duchy of Cornwall. Poundbury based winners on the day included Dorset Neuro Rehab, Headland HR, Minuteman Press, MCS Laundry and the Florist of Poundbury. Brewery Square winners were Halo Fine Art and Nikki’s Little Play Café with winners in central Dorchester including Jordan’s Jewellers, Venus, Hair Beauty & Aesthetics. Winners from the awards 5 mile radius for entries were Greenwood Grange, a family owned hospitality business, Creative Clay For All, who run artistic workshops and Moo Chuu UK with their ecofriendly shoe products. Plus a business that our judges were surprised to discover was based near Dorchester as it’s a world class recording studio, Echo Town Studio, run by award winning singer/songwriter Nick Capaldi and his wife Grace.
The happy winners on the day were
Best Community Support sponsored by Dorchester Poverty Action
Silver: Creative Clay For All Gold: Dorset Neuro Rehab
Green/Eco Award sponsored by West Dorset Magazine: Gold: Moo Chuu UK
Best Place to Work Award sponsored by Dorchester BID Silver: MCS Laundry Gold: Nikki’s Little Play Cafe
B2B Business sponsored by Porter Dodson Solicitors Silver: Headland HR Gold: Minuteman Press
Family Business of the Year sponsored by Ellis Jones Solicitors Silver: The Florist of Poundbury Gold: Greenwood Grange
Young Entrepreneur of the Year sponsored by the Duchy of Cornwall Gold: Ian Denslow of Dorset Neuro Rehab and Jenny Lee Baker of Sage & Fern Florist
My Favourite Business sponsored by Gavin Dixon Finance Solutions Gold: Bridal Reloved
Independent Business of the Year sponsored by Purple Accountants Accountants
Gold: Echo Town Studio and Halo Fine Art
Business Innovation Sponsored by ActionCOACH Poundbury Gold: Bridal Reloved
Café/Pub/Casual Dining sponsored by Johnsons Linen Silver: The Horse with the Red Umbrella Gold: Al Molo
Customer Service sponsored by Dorchester Town Council Silver: Arcadia Beauty Spa Silver: Venus, Hair, Beauty, Aesthetics Gold: Jordans Jewellers
New Business of the Year sponsored by Albert Goodman Accountants Silver: Myra’s Korean and Japanese Restaurant Gold: Sage & Fern Florist
Overall Business of the Year sponsored by Action COACH Poundbury Sage & Fern Florist
The winners photos can be seen on the website
Contact: awards@marketingwest.co.uk
Congratulations to all our Poundbury businesses and we hope for more successes in the future!
