WINNERS OF THE INAUGRAL BUSINESS AWARDS – 2024
22/10/24: We are really excited to announce the WINNERS of the first ever Walton BID Business Awards.
Our new yearly awards have gone to the very best that central Walton-on-Thames has to offer, as voted by you – their customers and the citizens of Walton!
At the BID, our primary role here in Walton-on-Thames is to promote the incredible businesses in our town centre, and we could think of no better way than by letting you choose who is absolutely smashing it and should get a lovely shiny award!
We launched the awards back in June and we had over 35 Walton Central (BID Zone) businesses nominated for the 9 main awards, which were then voted for by you, the residents / employees and visitors to Walton-on-Thames. Voting was open for six weeks over the summer and we received 943 individual forms – what a brilliant response – Thank You! All votes were verified and our winners can be seen below*:
*We look forward to presenting our award for Best Young Business Person to Ben Rose of The Surrey Coffee Co. when he returns from family leave.
We also launched a special ‘Employee of the Year’ Award, whereby the individual was nominated by their manager as a member of their staff who they believe goes above and beyond in all they do. The judging criteria ‘The best employees are constantly looking for new ways to improve themselves and contribute more to the company. They listen, take feedback seriously and are open-minded when presented with new ideas. They aren’t afraid to ask questions and seek help when needed’. Other characteristics to be judged were: Innovative, Job Excellence, Customer Service, Unsung Hero, Teamwork, Leadership & Productivity.
We had four nominees and it was a very hard decision, but that was professionally and independently taken by Ned Clarke, GM of The Walton Village and Head of People The Urban Village Pub Group and Sandra Porter, Chartered FCIPD & Managing Director, The HR Dept Elmbridge, Kingston and Surbiton.
The Winner is Chloe Grimshaw of Omni Academy, the runner-up is Nina Malyon of Walton Charity, the other finalists were Lieanna Tydeman, Zebra Boutique and Georgia Lovell, Love me do Brides.
On presenting the Award, Ned and Sandra said:
“Although the final two candidates were close, Chloe stood out as our winner due to her incredible tenacity and drive. Although her initial training, education and role was in film and TV, she took to Omni academy with ease and has excelled. Chloe’s relationship-building and commercial acumen is exceptional, and she has gone far above and beyond in her work at Omni Academy. She has used creativity and focus to drive commercial success and improve standards, without being asked. She is always very busy and is a prolific list-maker – something that makes sure that she always knows what the priority is.’
On top of this, and in the words of her Line Manager, Rianna Farbey – “Chloe never seems to be too busy but everybody wonders how she seems to find the time to get so much done!”
“To conclude Chloe came across as very humble and kind during her meeting with us, and she was a pleasure to be around. It’s always amazing to meet someone achieving so much, but being authentic, composed and modest”.
Congratulations to all our WINNERS, well done to everyone who was nominated, and THANK YOU our Walton-on-Thames Community for voting! Please do continue to support your town centre businesses, your local independents and remember ‘shop local, support local, use it or lose it!’.
Thank you from me, Tracey Palmer, Walton BID Manager to Andy Davies, MD James Neave Estate Agents and Ned Clarke, GM The Walton Village, Directors of Walton BID Ltd who support me throughout the year and came to visit our businesses today to present awards.
The Surrey Coffee Co., Meraki Beauty, James Neave Estate Agents, The ShredQuarters, Zebra Boutique, Walton Charity, Omni Academy, Love me do Brides, and Cacao Route Chocolatier.