Business

Belfast's top businesses in line for awards night honours

Belfast City Hall hosts the business awards on May 27
Belfast City Hall hosts the business awards on May 27 Belfast City Hall hosts the business awards on May 27

More than 60 of the city’s top businesses have made the short list in 14 categories for this year's Belfast Business Awards, which will be handed out at a glitzy ceremony in the City Hall on Wednesday May 27.

The finalists in the competition - organised by Belfast Chamber of Trade & Commerce and with Bank of Ireland UK as headline sponsor - span retail, hospitality, digital marketing and sustainability sectors, and each will be interviewed by a panel of judges to decide the overall winners.

Details of the finalists (for more further information go to www.belfastchamber.com) are:

:: Customer service excellence (multiple retailer) - Boots; Lidl NI; Next; Oasis Travel; Rituals Cosmetics.

:: Customer service excellence (independent retailer) - Belfast Cosmetic Laser Clinic; Dawsons Music; PM Lighting; Porcellana Tile Studio; Scooter Specialist NI.

:: Best new business - Crumlin Road Gaol; Dress This House; Miniversity Creative Learning Club; Rumour Mill PR;The Dirty Onion.

:: Best marketing initiative - Abacus Recruitment; Traction Finance; Dawsons Music; Grand Opera House; Value Cabs.

:: Best digital marketing - Allstate Northern Ireland; CastleCourt; Slims Healthy Kitchen; The Hudson Bar ; The Mac.

:: Young (under-30) businessperson - Tony Webster (Big Bad Llama); Emer O’Kane (Core Systems); Steven Davidson (Alibi Belfast); Katie Stevenson & Sarah Graham (La Bella Vita); Alice Sykes (Utopia).

:: Best company to work for - Adventures Day Nursery; Allstate NI; Cleaver Fulton Rankin; Connect Telecom; Replify.

:: Customer service excellence in professional business services - ASM Chartered Accountants; Baker Tilly Mooney Moore; Dunmurry Dental Practice; Francis Hanna & Co; MKB Law.

:: Best licensed premises - The Albany; Hudson Bar; Horatio Todd’s; The Dirty Onion; The John Hewitt; Rita’s.

:: Best hotel - Ibis City Centre; La Mon Hotel & Country Club; Ramada Plaza; Tara Lodge; The Merchant.

:: Best eatery/coffee shop - Bar & Grill at James St South; Hadskis; Havana Bank Sq; Slims Healthy Kitchen; Yardbird.

:: Business person of the year - Patricia O’Hagan (Core Systems); Dorcas Crawford (Edwards & Co Solicitors); John Bushell (Finaghy Business Association); Kathy Hanna (Oasis Travel); Chris Suitor (Suitor Menswear).

:: Best green business - CastleCourt; IKEA; Little Wing Pizzeria; The Hudson Bar; Victoria Square.

:: Business growth award - BioKinetic Europe; DisplayNote Technologies; Porcellana Tile Studio; Ross Boyd Ltd; World Travel Centre.