THE ‘BEST of Otley’ has been celebrated at an awards ceremony.

This year’s Otley Business Awards took place at Otley All Saints Parish Church on Friday, March 22.

Twelve awards in total, in categories ranging from Best Apprentice / Trainee to Best Employer, were up for grabs during a ceremony which highlighted the achievements of local independent companies.

The event, now in its fifth year and formed by Otley Chamber of Trade, attracted more than 150 nominees who came along to find out who had triumphed.

Awards Committee member Rachelle Atkin said: “We have been absolutely blown away with how business owners and their customers have got behind this year’s awards.

“Every year it goes from strength to strength.

“We are delighted that new and old businesses alike get involved each time to celebrate the wide range of fantastic, independent businesses we have here in Otley.

“This year we received a record breaking 451 nomination forms, with 89 businesses being nominated - which is 20 more businesses than last year.”

Nominee Apollo 3D were up for two awards, Best Newcomer and Best Service Sector, and came away with the Best Newcomer title on the night.

Owner Mark Shepherd, explaining his firm’s work which involves creating ‘virtual locations that can be used in marketing’, said: “We are really busy at the moment converting Otley into 3D!

“We are aiming for the world’s first ‘3D town’ and Otley fits the bill perfectly.

“There is so much here: pubs, heritage, culture, retail and innovation.

“We hope our work will help bring in business, tourists and footfall from around the country.”

Each of the award categories was sponsored by a different local business.

Explaining how her company got involved, Elspeth Harrow, who is a Partner at Newstead and Walker Solicitors, said: “We always go along to the Chamber of Trade meetings, I’m a member of the Otley BID board and we like to get involved in local business initiatives.

“We feel it is really important to promote local business so we always like to get involved and have done since the awards’ inception five years ago.

“People feel really valued for being nominated and it’s a great event for the business community.”

In previous years the awards evening has been successfully held at Otley Courthouse.

Commenting on the change of venue, Rachelle said: “This year we moved to the magnificent Otley Parish Church which pulled out all the stops to create such a fantastic, celebratory evening.

“We are also delighted to announce that we raised an amazing £440 in the raffle, which will go towards local business initiatives within the town.

“The organising committee would like to thank the wonderful team at the parish church, Elizabeth Keefe for the beautiful music on arrival, and Red Pepper for the delicious Indian buffet.

“We also thanks our guest speaker Peter Dodd, who is the Commercial Director of Welcome to Yorkshire, and Pete Edgerton from Stray FM, for hosting the evening.

“Thanks, too, to the Stew and Oyster for providing the after show party where the celebrations carried on well into the evening, Christopher Winpenny for being our official photographer, and everyone else who played a part in making the evening a resounding success.”

The 2019 award winners were each presented with an engraved award and personalised certificate.

They were: Best Newcomer – Apollo 3D, sponsor – Otley Pharmacy; Best Small Business – Puffin Pottery, sponsor – Althams Travel; Best Large Business – Bondgate Bakery, sponsor – O’Deli; Best Service Sector – Otley Pharmacy, sponsor – Bondgate Bakery; Best Retail – Geo Middlemiss and Son, sponsor – Rest Assured Homecare; Best Food and Drink – The Roebuck, sponsor – Dale Eddison; Best Cafe – Salami and Co, sponsor – Newstead and Walker Solicitors; Good Service Award – Prima Blinds, sponsor – Courtyard Planters; Community Award – Richard Houldsworth, sponsor – Arundel Travel; Best Apprentice/Trainee – Joint Winners: Jess White from Aura Jewellery and Savanna Dabill from Dales Vetinary Centre, sponsor – Angels Hair, Beauty and Massage; Best Employer – Rest Assured Homecare, sponsor – Print Crew; Lifetime Achievement Award – Mick Gray, sponsor – Tim Wilkinson from Dowgill House Bed and Breakfast.

The event’s main sponsors this year were Otley Chamber of Trade, Otley BID and Otley Town Council.

Stray FM, meanwhile, was the media partner for the awards.