By Monica Jones
The Spelthorne Business Awards at the end of last year were a glittering affair at the Hazel-wood centre, Sunbury. Finalists gathered with their friends and colleagues to see who would get the top accolade as “best in” their catego-ry.
Four businesses were shortlisted as Best in Shepperton: Sisu & Glow, Palmers Dog Grooming Salon, Trade City and The Ferry Coffee Shop.
Congratulations to the winners, Sisu & Glow (pictured above)! The girls launched their business at a hugely challenging time, during the pandemic, with all the ensuing lockdowns and restrictions that came with it. ‘Sisu’ means determination and resilience and the girls demonstrated this in spades! They have expanded from offering top notch hair cuts and treatments to now also offer beauty, mas-sage and aesthetics.
Judges were clearly impressed with their com-mitment to staff training and development and to their community engagement. Sisu & Glow have offered work placements to give hands on experience to those looking at a career in the hair and beauty industry. Director Jade has also attended local careers fairs to help share knowledge and advice with youngsters.
As well as that, the salon has well and truly entered the community spirit of Shepperton. They dress the shop up (and themselves) at every key occasion. You may even have seen the girls in festival gear during August. At this time when there is so much hardship and bad news around, the girls offer a touch of glamour and fun, not just in the services they offer, but in how they engage with the public too. Well done girls!
Next door, Palmers may not offer glitter, but they certainly offer top quality pooch pamper-ing! These girls offer the very best and are previous winners.
Further down Thurlestone Parade Trade City, run by Jay Singh, was also shortlisted. Well done for this accolade, having only been open for a short while.
The fourth finalist was The Ferry Coffee Shop, which has continued to evolve and develop and to offer locals more of what they want. The location by Shepperton lock is a great place to sit out in the warmer months and inside is always cosy and welcoming if the weather is inclement.
Other Shepperton finalists in other categories were The Stewart Academy of Performing Arts, Thames Laundrette & Dry Cleaning, Rosewood landscaping, Fresh Gym, Shepperton Physiotherapy and Prospectus IT.
Huge congratulations to all of you. It is testa-ment to the quality and variety of local companies we have in our village.
I am delighted to say that Village Matters won Best Business in Sunbury, which was com-pletely unexpected and I was utterly delight-ed. Nex year we will try for Shepperton!
If you run an independent business, why not enter next year? Remember, you’ve got to be in it to win it! We will let you know when the entries open in 2024.