Grayshott Books scooped the Overall Winner award at the Annual Best Dressed Shop Awards Dinner at the Kapadokya Restaurant in Grayshott last Sunday. The Winners Shield was awarded to Owner Julie Stevens and colleague Barrie Archer by Clive Slaughter, Chairman of Grayshott Parish Council in the contest organised by Buy In Grayshott (BIG).
A beaming Julie Stevens was clearly delighted: "We're thrilled to win the Overall Award this year and proud we've continued the successful record set by our previous owners in recent years."
Joint runners-up for the award were Magical Rooms and Simmons Interiors, who were pipped at the post by just one point.
The award for 'Cleanliness and Tidiness' was won outright by Amity Ladies Fashions while the judges decided to appoint joint winners in the Shop Front category with awards going both to Simmons Interiors and to Magical Rooms.
The judges were faced with an even more difficult decision in the Shop Display category and declared three joint winners, Flower Vogue, Kaighin & Daughter and Kudu Ladies Fashions.
A record 64 shops and business premises were judged in two separate assessments in the summer and winter, with marks awarded for seven different qualities. "The standards are rising steadily year by year and this year has been no exception" said BIG Chairman Dick Smith. "There has been an enormous amount of competition and friendly rivalry this year - and our winners have worked hard for their awards. In the end it's our shoppers who are winners too!"
The Competition, the "Grayshott Oscars", was started by Grayshott Parish Council over 20 years ago and was first organised by BIG in 2003. After presenting the awards Grayshott PC Chairman Clive Slaughter commented. "It is wonderful to see such a high standard achieved by our local shops again this year. It is particularly rewarding to see that the eight new shops who opened too recently to be judged more than once, set an especially high standard. We can look forward to an even higher standard in 2007."
