A mainstay of Preston’s nightlife scene is to be remembered with an award in his name.

Douglas Lowe died when a falling tree struck his car during a storm on Tuesday 20 August.

The founder and owner of Winedown was a popular and well-known figure in Preston city centre, operating the wine bar in Lancaster Road which was in a basement.

Read more: ‘Doogie is why we now love wine’ – tributes paid to Winedown founder

Now organisers of the High Street Heroes Awards, which take place annually in the city, are introducing an award in Dougie’s memory.

Run by Preston’s Business Improvement District and Visit Preston the awards this year will feature a category of ‘The Dougie Lowe City Ambassador Award’.

Last year Winedown won the Bar of the Year award with a big share of the public vote.

A spokesperson for Preston BID said: “As a tribute to Dougie, and his contribution to Preston’s night time economy, we are introducing ‘The Dougie Lowe City Ambassador Award’.

“The new award, which will return annually, has been introduced to recognise and continually celebrate Dougie’s legacy. The recipient will be someone who has made a significant contribution to Preston, over a number of years, and will be determined by a panel of city stakeholders.

“We’d like to thank Dougie’s Winedown family for allowing us to introduce this new award in his honour, and look forward to announcing the nominees, together with the nominees in all the ‘High Street Heroes’ categories for 2024, in the coming weeks’.”

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