Love Cambridge held the first Awards Ceremony on Tuesday 14th September at the Gonville Hotel, Cambridge, to recognise the hard work of businesses that have signed up to the Love Cambridge Charter. The awards were open to all businesses that have signed up to the Love Cambridge Charter and were presented at the first Love Cambridge AGM.

The turnout for the event was high, with over 80 people attending.

This year we looked at rewarding businesses that lead the way in providing great customer service and who excel at promoting their city. All business who signed up to the Charter were eligible to win an award, which was judged with the help of our sponsor - partner marketing agency Emerald Frog Marketing through a mystery shop. The mystery shops were conducted throughout August.

The awards were presented by the Right Worshipful Mayor of the City of Cambridge, Councillor Sheila Stuart in the categories of ‘Best Overall Customer Service’ and ‘Best Ambassador for Cambridge’.

Winners

There were two winners of the ‘Best Overall Customer Service’ which were Boudoir Femme, a ladies-wear boutique shop in Kings Street and ‘Bellanapoli Café’ in Regent Street. The winners received an awards plaque. Feedback from the mystery shop showed Boudoir Femme as “Showing personal customer service, tailoring items to our shopper, not pushy and very helpful”. Feedback from the mystery shop for Bellanapoli Café was “Extremely good atmosphere with fun, joking staff going the extra mile and helping our shopper carry items to their table”. The runner-up was the Christian Science Reading Room, also in Regent Street who received a certificate.

Winner Pippa Sandison from Boudoir Femme said “We are absolutely delighted to win these awards, we are very proud that they have recognised the service we provide”.

There were also two winners of the ‘Best Ambassador for Cambridge’ which were Boudoir Femme, who also won the ‘Best Overall Customer Service’ and the Granta Boat & Punt Company, based in Newnham Road. The winners received an awards plaque. The feedback from the mystery shop showed Boudoir Femme as: “Recommended other city centre businesses and showed excellent knowledge of Cambridge”. The feedback from the mystery shop for Granta Boat & Punt Company was “Very friendly helpful staff on advising places to see/go in Cambridge, including giving directions”

The runners-up were Wesley Barrell, Bellanapoli Café, Doubletree by Hilton, and Sandra Jane who each received a certificate.

 

The next round of awards will take place in the New Year to recognise businesses that have made steps to improve the physical appearance of their streets and those who are taking measures to reduce their carbon footprint.

 

The Way to Be Awards

The awards evening also hosted the “Way to be Awards” to celebrate and reward the local services and businesses that do the most for people with disabilities. There were two categories, the overall winner of The Way To Be Award was Cambridge on Ice and the winner of the Transport Award was Thompson Taxi’s. Each winner received a framed certificate. For more information on The Way To Be Awards click here for their website.

CAMBAC Safer Socialising Award

The Safer Socialising Awards were a 2-year initiative rewarding licensed premises that achieved a national criteria of standards via a multi-agency assessment by Police, City Council and Cambs Fire Service. Those premises achieving the award in 2009 were La Raza, Ta Bouche, Kambar, Nusha, Green Dragon, Unicorn, Quinns and the Junction. The best overall winner was The Junction, Clifton Road, which far exceeds the best practice standards and consistently demonstrates a high level of community involvement. The Junction received an awards plaque. For more information on CAMBAC click here.

For more information on the Charter and to sign up please click here

For more information on our sponsor Emerald Frog Marketing please click here

Press Coverage of the Awards Evening