Award-winning Lancashire company donates prize to charity

The Northern food and drink retailer came away from the Blackpool Tower Ballroom with the business of the year title at the BIBA’s 2021.

Run by the North and Western Lancashire Chamber of Commerce, the Be Inspired Business Awards is Lancashire’s longest run business awards.

Graham Booth, director said: “It has been an incredibly difficult 18 months for everyone, this award comes as something of a recognition for all the hard work everyone has put in.

“We have had an extraordinary performance over what has been an incredible difficult 18 months.

“We have consolidated our position as a favourite food store and a part of our communities.

“This was a homecoming for us because the company was founded in Market Street Blackpool by a 19 year-old who was homeless at the time and who managed to borrow some stock from his employer - a remarkable story. So, we are so proud to have won this award here.”

The award came with £2,000 for the winning business. Booths decided to donate the money to the Harris Charity of which the original EH Booth was a founder in 1883.

The charity helps young people in hardship move forward in life. Edwin Booth, chairman and CEO of Booths said: “My great, great grandfather Edwin Henry Booth believed in giving back.

“Orphaned at the age of 11, by age 19 he was a tea dealer, opening his first shop in Blackpool.

“He found what he excelled at and became a founding trustee of the Harris Orphanage, now the Harris Charity, which supports young persons in difficulty, ensuring that talents are not constrained though lack of opportunity.

“It seems fitting that winning an award in Blackpool, just a few yards from the very beginnings of Booths, should be reinvested to inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs.”

Babs Murphy, chief executive of the North and Western Lancashire Chamber of Commerce behind the awards, said “Lancashire businesses have used innovation, enthusiasm and sheer hard work to overcome so many challenges over the past 18 months.

Regardless of the sector they are in or the size of the business we have had to dig deep and rely on the character of our people to get us through.”