Menu

All the winners from the 2019 Preston Smiles Better Awards

Posted on - 10th April, 2019 - 7:03am | Author - | Posted in - Business, City Centre, Preston City Centre, Pubs, What's On in Preston
Bernice Marie-Newton (left) with the Townhouse Coffee team
Bernice Marie Newton (left) with the Townhouse Coffee team

A coffee shop owner in Preston city centre has been recognised for all she’s doing to help lift up one of the city’s main streets.

Advertisement

Bernice Marie Newton was given the City Star Award at the city centre business awards during Tuesday (9 April).

Advertisements
Preston Weekender advert

Her business Townhouse Coffee and Brew Bar also picked up the Independent Business of the Year Award.

Bernice has helped organise a big clean up of Friargate, where Townhouse is based, with businesses down the street joining forces to power-wash the street, repair faults and pick up litter.

Bernice Marie Newton picking up her award
Bernice Marie Newton picking up her award

Bernice Marie Newton said: “Congratulations to all the finalists, the Town House team, to Bid for a fantastic night and to everyone who voted and supports us, we only achieved this with you walking through our doors.”

Advertisements

There was also praise and recognition for one of the mainstays of the city’s live music and clubbing scene.

Peter Alexander was granted the Preston Business Improvement District Special Recognition Award.

Peter Alexander makes his way to the stage
Peter Alexander makes his way to the stage

DJing aroun the city for decades Pete started at The Warehouse before becoming owner-operator of Blitz.

He’s represented the city’s music scene on a number of national panels.

The Smiles Better Awards took place in Evoque with BBC Radio Lancashire’s John Gillmore and former Rock FM DJ Danny Bee hosting.

Advertisements
barton manor gym

Read more: New monthly Makers Market coming to Fishergate

ITV news presenter Paul Crone made a guest appearance to hand out awards in the Outstanding Achievement in Leisure and Outstanding Achievement in Retail awards.

Paul Crone presenting awards
Paul Crone presenting awards

This saw the moment when Simon Rigby, who wasn’t present, roundly booed by many tables in the room when announced as a finalist for the Outstanding Achievement in Leisure Award for his work at the Guild Hall. It follows recent stories on Blog Preston and other media outlets about payment problems at the venue.

Seventeen awards were given out in total including a new award for Market Trader of the Year Aaward for the city’s new Market Hall.

Adrian Livesey’s butchers, run by Market Trader Association chairman Sam Livesey, picked up the award.

Preston BID’s Mark Whittle said: “These awards are always hotly contested with healthy competition between nominees, which is no bad thing. The city centre is awash with great people working very hard, in great businesses, and it’s good to recognise them publicly; they are the very reason many people visit Preston.”

More than 68,000 votes were cast by the public across the categories and the five or six people or organisations in each category with the highest votes were invited along on the night. All awards are decided by a public vote, apart from the Special Recognition Award.

Here’s the full list of finalists and the winner in each category:

Bar of the year
Northern Way
Plau – winner
Roper Hall
Wings and Beer
Yates

Plau bar team
Plau bar team

Club of the year
Baluga
Evoque
Popworld
Switch
Warehouse – winner

Advertisements
caritas fostering advert
Club of the Year winner The Warehouse
Club of the Year winner The Warehouse

Restaurant of the year
Angelos
Bistrot Pierre
Turtle Bay
Nandos – winner
We Don’t Give A Fork

The Nando's Preston team
The Nando’s Preston team

Pub of the year
Hogarths
Plug and Taps
Ships and Giggles
Twelve Tellers – winner
The Adelphi

The Twelve Tellers team
The Twelve Tellers team

Personality of the year
Brian Hudson – Tokyo Jo’s Reunion
DJ Ben – The Warehouse – winner
Darren Ofsarnie – Switch
Mark Freejack – Evoque
Matthew Wood – Krispy Kreme

Lauren from The Warehouse picked up DJ Ben's Award
Lauren from The Warehouse picked up DJ Ben’s Award

Leisure manager of the year
Adam Coulson – Twelve Tellers
Dave Brown – Switch – winner
Joe Parr – Wings & Beers
Mark O’Rourke – Mark O’Rourke Group
Stacey Penney – Evoque

Dave Brown from Switch
Dave Brown from Switch

Retail manager of the year
David Bullock – Preston Market – winner
Gordon Gibson – Action Records
Matthew Wood – Krispy Kreme
Michelle Littlefair – PDSA
Sue Dodwell – Greggs

Shirah Bamber from Preston Council picked up the award for Dave Bullock
Shirah Bamber from Preston Council picked up the award for Dave Bullock

Multiple retailer of the year
Ann Summers
Greggs
Krispy Kreme
Mark O’Rourke Group – winner
Top Shop

Mark O'Rourke shares a joke with Gilly
Mark O’Rourke shares a joke with Gilly

Independent retailer of the year
Action Records
Cafune – South American Cafe Roast
Townhouse Coffee and Brew Bar – winner
Yog Yums

Townhouse team
Townhouse team

Best customer service – Leisure
Dan Cowell – Wings and Beers
Ellen Cunliffe – Twelve Tellers
Henry Fairclough – Ships and Giggles Lee
Lee Johnson – Switch – winner
Sean Devlin – Get Staffed

Lee Johnson from Switch nightclub
Lee Johnson from Switch nightclub

Best customer service – Retail
Gordon Gibson – Action Records
Matthew Wood – Krispy Kreme
Paul Roscoe – HMB
Sue Dodwell – Greggs – winner
Sam Eaves – Ann Summers

Sue Dodwell from Greggs
Sue Dodwell from Greggs

Outstanding achievement in retail
Adrian Livesey – Livesey’s Butchers
Andrew Stringer – St George’s
Dean Yates – Roast
Gordon Gibson – Action Records – winner
Matthew Wood – Krispy Kreme

Gordon Gibson with his Outstanding Achievement Award
Gordon Gibson with his Outstanding Achievement Award

Outstanding achievement leisure
Aimee Massey – Bistrot Pierre
Darren Ofsarnie – Switch
Kyle Perkins – Yates
Lisa Billington – Warehouse – winner
Simon Rigby – Guild Hall

Lisa Billington from The Warehouse
Lisa Billington from The Warehouse

City Star
Bernice Newton – Townhouse Coffee and Brew Bar – winner
Ed Walker – Blog Preston
Ranvir Singh – UCLan/ITV
Simon Meighan – Wings and Beer
Simon Rigby – Guild Hall

Bernice celebrates
Bernice celebrates

Market Trader of the Year
Adrian Livesey’s Butchers – winner
Brew + Bake
Capelli Remi
Cherry Pie
Redmans of Preston

Adrian Livesey's butchers team
Adrian Livesey’s butchers team

Event of the year
Bongo’s Bingo – Guild Hall – winner
EvanFest – Ships and Giggles
GlastonFerret – The Ferret
Preston Pride – Flag Market
Record Store Day – Action Records

Bongo's Bingo team picking up their award
Bongo’s Bingo team picking up their award

Special Recognition Honour – Peter Alexander

Advertisements
Peter Alexander presented with his award
Peter Alexander presented with his award

Share
Advertisements
caritas fostering advert
Preston in pictures Preston Bus 207 PO56 JDX (Scania N94UB / East Lancs Esteem)24.03.24 - Penwortham [Church of St Mary] 240323JPGDSC_7658 - Bus stationDSC_7676 - Miller ArcadeDSC_7681 - former Post Office, cenotaph and Town HallDSC_7682 - Central Methodist church, Lune StreetDSC_7668 - Fish (aka Box) MarketDSC_7672 - Miller Arcade View more Advertisement Subscribe to the newsletter

Sign up below to receive Blog Preston's email newsletter. It wings its way into inboxes every Sunday and Wednesday rounding up our top stories and more.

Advertisement News by location

Find news by location, select an area of your choice to be kept up to date with the latest goings on.

The Preston Guide

Discover local businesses and services near you.

    Advertisements
Advertisement Categories

Find news by category, select an category of your choice to be kept up to date with the latest goings on.

Blog Preston email updates

Receive our digest of the biggest and best stories every Sunday to your email inbox

We respect your privacy and you can unsubscribe at any time from our emails