Winners of the GloucestershireLive Business Awards 2023 announced

The winners of the GloucestershireLive Business Awards 2023 have been revealed at a special ceremony at Cheltenham Racecourse.

The prestigious black-tie event, run in association with parent company Reach Plc and sister site GloucestershireLive, returned on Thursday evening (October 12) to celebrate the achievements and resilience of the region's business community.

Securing medals at all major championships, former European, Commonwealth and World Champion Iwan Thomas MBE hosted the ceremony, which brought together some of the most successful Gloucestershire-based companies and leaders.

Attendees were also treated to a three-course dinner, after party and entertainment from the Chip Shop Boys.

This was the awards Silver Anniversary event, returning with headline partner Randall & Payne. For 25-years the awards have strived to champion the success of the county's businesses and their leaders across a wide range of industries.

This year, family-run Gardiner Bros & Co (Leathers) Ltd - a distributor of global footwear and workwear brands to the retail trade - won the coveted Business of the Year Award, while former BBC Radio Gloucestershire's long-serving breakfast show host Mark Cummings was presented with the Outstanding Contribution Award.

The award's charity partner for 2023 was Cheltenham's Maggie's, which provides free support for anyone living with cancer, their family and friends. The charity was founded in Edinburgh in 1996 by Maggie Keswick Jencks, who used her own experience of having cancer to create a new type of cancer care. Since then charity has continued to grow, opening in Cheltenham in 2010; it now has bases across the UK and abroad.

Sarah Pullen, Reach Plc's commercial director of regionals, who addressed the event, said: "From Covid to the cost of living crisis, and any number of challenges in between, the last few years have been uniquely difficult for businesses in Gloucestershire and beyond. But as tough as the last few years have been, tonight's finalists have demonstrated the tenacity, invention and drive to not just navigate the storm, but thrive and build for the future."