Nominees announced for Rochdale Town Centre Business Awards 2008

Over the past few months, mystery customers have been visiting businesses in Rochdale town centre. All businesses who were involved did so on a voluntary basis. The reports and rankings have now been finalised and the the short lists for each award have been announced.

The winners will be announced on Friday 5 September at the Business Awards ceremony.

The winners will be the businesses with the highest score on their ‘mystery visit’. This excludes the Best Bar None which is tested using intense assessment and ‘Employee of the Year’ which is judged by readers of the local newspaper.

The Rochdale Town Centre Business Awards are facilitated by Rochdale Town Centre Management, and sponsored by Rochdale Council.

Nominations:
Best National Retailer sponsored by the Rochdale Exchange

Brighthouse
Clarks Footwear
Diamonds and Pearls
Greenwoods Menswear
Herbert Brown
Marks & Spencer
Mothercare
Partners
Staples

Best Independent Retailer sponsored by Anthony K Associates

Babies in Bloom
Brides of Rochdale
Chantilly
Duffer
Moses
Sandifords
The Closet

Best Food Retailer sponsored by Rochdale Town Centre Management
Bar 5
Brazil Grill
Shelly B's
Gabbotts Farm
The Baum
The Beluga Restaurant
The Regal Moon
Walsh's Flying Fish

Best Service Provider sponsored by Northern Employment Services
Gymophobics
Mecca Bingo
Motorcise
Northern Employment
Stephen Paul Hair
Showboat Amusements
Touchstones
Vodafone

Best Customer Service sponsored by Rochdale Borough Council Customer Services

3 Mobile
Brazil Grill
Brighthouse
Clarks Footwear
GMP Rochdale North Partnership (Police)
Northern Employment Services
Partners
The Beluga Restaurant

Rochdale Ambassador sponsored by Rochdale Online

Babies In Bloom
Greggs (The Walk)
John Peers Hair Studio
Morrellis
River Island
Sandifords
Staples
The Regal Moon

Best Long Serving Business sponsored by Wilson Bowden

Boots
Chantilly
Clarks Footwear
Flying Horse
Gregory Couzens
John Peers Hair Studio
Marks & Spencer
Oxfam
Prestons of Rochdale
Rochdale Post Office
Rochdale Town Hall
Sandifords
The Baum

Best Business Overall sponsored by Rochdale Development Agency
To be announced on the night

Employee of the Year 2008 sponsored by the Rochdale Observer

Jan Law
Patricia Pearson
Carl O'Brien
Sumaira Jabin
Emma Barrett
Rob Alexandridis
Sharon Prenergast
Alison White
Paul Swinden
Paul Buckley
Andrew Gray
Steve Shanahan
Shareen Taylor

Best Bar None, Best Pub sponsored by China City
Cask & Feather
The Baum
The Regal Moon
The Roebuck

Best Bar None, Best Bar/Club sponsored by Rochdale Safer Communities Partnership

Bar 5
Honey
Mango
Pacific
Litten Tree

Best Bar None, Overall sponsored by Rochdale Borough Council Licensing

To be announced on the night

Suzy Woods from Rochdale Town Centre Management said: "The company used to carry out the ‘Mystery Customer Visits’ is based in South Manchester, thus many of the mystery customers had not visited our town previously. This allowed us to gage their opinion of the town, from start to finish, including the environment, transport and town centre pride, as well as the shops, restaurants and bars.

Each customer filled in the usual report on each of the 125 businesses involved, but also had to answer questions on the way there, such as if they felt safe, if the car parking facilities were sufficient and if the town was tidy."

The results of these questionnaires will be published after the ceremony. Mystery customers also took taxi and bus rides and assessed the service they received there too.