Town Team announce Independent Business Award winners

In September Ashton Town Team launched the Ashton Independent Retail Awards sponsored by Bromleys solicitors LLP. The awards recognised the wealth of independent local businesses within the town centre and finalists highlighted the wide range of successful businesses in the town.

The nominations formed shortlists for each category which had to be scrutinised by the judging team of Jackie Moores from Tameside College, Pauline Town from The Station, Luke Mirfin from Tameside Markets and chaired by Jan Lord from Guide Bridge MOT & Service.  Jan said, “This year has been a challenging time for all the businesses in Ashton and choosing a winner from the hundreds of worthy entrants has been a task and a half!
Every entrant is a winner in my eyes and deserves to be recognised but unfortunately, we did have to choose a winner in each category. Thank you to everyone involved in the process, the people who took their time to vote, the judging panel, the sponsors and Ashton Town Team for arranging the awards. Looking forward to 2021 already to recognise even more excellent local businesses. Remember to always SHOP LOCAL to support our local economy.”

So here we have the final results for each of the categories:

Café/Takeaway Finalists –

• Eclectic Avenue – Market Avenue
• Mozaic Café – Warrington Street
• Tarp’s Filipino Fusion – Market Hall
• Wendy & Mandy’s Cafe – Market Hall

WINNER: Nat’s Bombay Kitchen – Market Hall

Clothing/Footwear Finalists –

• New Shu – Market Avenue
• Seraphina Centre – Stamford Street
• Decisions Clothing – Fletcher Square
• Fizz Fashion – Wellington Street

WINNER: Room 14 – George Street

Fresh Food Retail –

• Briggs Butchers – Ashton Market Hall
• Pasta & Basta – Stockport Road
• Fruits & Roots – Ashton Market Ground
• Pearsons Butchers – Ashton Market Hall

WINNER: The Cheese Stall – Ashton Market Hall

Hair, Health & Beauty Finalists –

• Bliss Hair Salon – Wood Street
• Hair By Jodie – Wellington Road
• The Hair Studio – Stamford Street
• Dionne’s – Stamford Street

WINNER: Mary Haworth – Warrington Street

Home Furnishing/Textiles Finalist –

• Albion Mill Carpets – Penny Meadow
• Flowers By Lizzie – Albion Trading Estate
• Williams Bros Carpets – Warrington Street

WINNER: Bargain Textiles – Ashton Market Hall

Jewellers Finalists –

• Cathedral Jewellers – Market Street
• Harrington & Hallworth – Old Street
• Gems – Ashton Market Hall
• Argenti Jewellers – Market Avenue

WINNER: Grade A – Market Avenue

Restaurant Finalists –

• San Rocco – Stamford Square
• Pasta & Basta – Stockport Road
• Rosie’s – Ladysmith Shopping Centre
• Mozaic Café – Warrington Street

WINNER: Lily’s Vegetarian – Oldham Road

Specialist Retail Finalists –

• Crystal Carol’s – George Street
• Jacky’s Floral Designs – Market Ground
• Flowers By Lizzie – Albion Trading Estate
• The Off Licence – Ashton Market Hall

WINNER: Rewind Collectables – Wellington Street

Tech/Electrical Winner

Microtech – Penny Meadow

The Bromleys Sponsor Choice Award Winner

Antonios Restaurant – Katherine Street

The Ashton Town Team Special Award 

Cameraz – Stamford Street.

Bromleys Solicitors who sponsored this year’s awards were delighted to be working with Ashton Town Team.  As lead sponsors, they were delighted to present Antonio’s Pizzeria e Ristorante as the winners of the Sponsor’s Choice Award. 

Bromleys’ Paul Westwell said: “As you can imagine, this was a tough decision as we are lucky to have such a wide array of independents in our town centre.  Restaurants have really suffered during the Covid-19 crisis and Antonio’s took part in the Government’s ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ scheme in August and have continued with this offer to encourage people back – adapting the restaurant to ensure social distancing and that they are Covid-19 compliant.”
Kevin Taylor, Chair of Ashton Town Team, said, “I’d like to thank Bromleys for their support and Jan with the other judges who have had a challenging time picking winners from the finalists. These awards certainly acknowledge the unique bespoke service provided by many of the independent businesses in our town centre. There was over 1600 nominations received which is a tribute to all those small shops who work so hard in our town. We need to celebrate businesses like these which make Ashton-under-Lyne a perfect destination for quality, value and service for shoppers.”