Preston’s general public have the opportunity to vote for their high street heroes with the return of the ‘Preston, It Smiles Better – The Awards’. The awards programme is back for a third year after a hugely successful competition, staged last in 2016, which saw more than over 150 nominations and 128,000 public votes cast.
The awards are organised by the Preston Business Improvement District (BID) and provide Preston‘s visitors with an opportunity to show their support for the city’s leisure and retail businesses and those individuals who offer great service.
“The awards are a great opportunity for city centre businesses to take the limelight”, said BID manager, Mark Whittle. “We have a great city centre that offers something for everyone, whether people are coming for a shopping trip or a night out Preston is a great choice.
“The city centre has long been synonymous with offering outstanding service and these awards are staged purely to recognise the people and businesses that excel by keeping Preston’s customers happy and returning – we would encourage everyone to go online and vote for their favourites”.
Tony Raynor, Managing Director of Abbey Telecom, the award’s sponsors, said: ‘We always strive to offer outstanding customer service to our client, which is why they return time after time. We are delighted to be supporting BID’s ‘Smiles Better’ awards to seek out and honour those individuals and companies, in Preston, who share our ethos of offering outstanding client care’.
2016’s awards ceremony at Evoque Nightclub saw Church Street-based angling retailer Ted Carters take home the special recognition prize for more than 50 years’ service to Preston city centre. Guests were also treated to a special appearance from EastEnders star Jake Wood (Max Branning).
This year there will be 14 categories for the public to vote in, as well as one special recognition award.
Preston BID has team have teamed up with Business Lancashire, the county’s trusted source for positive business news, to provide the voting platform and coverage of the event, finalists and ultimate winners.
Sam Whitear, Director of Business Lancashire added: “We are delighted to be teaming up with Preston BID to provide the voting platform and coverage of the event. We wish all the nominees the best of luck and would encourage them to get on the campaign trail to secure their votes”.
Voting opens on Friday 5th January and close on Friday 9th February.
Votes can be cast online by visiting BusinessLancashire.co.uk/smiles/
