2018 Entrants

After winning the Judges’ Special Award in 2017, D-Dee’s Day Nursery is the first business to throw their hat into the ring for the 2018 awards.  The full-day, early years nursery now employs fourteen people to provide quality, individualised care for children aged five and under,...

In its second year of operation, The Shisha Bar has quickly become a standout attraction in Sheerness. Visiting The Shisha Bar offers customers delicious cocktails, shakes and hot drinks, accompanied with a shisha pipe – which is a middle eastern hookah pipe releasing herbal flavours. Owner...

The Swale Business Awards is about highlighting businesses of all shapes and sizes throughout the borough. Our next organisation may be small but they have been offering a service that is unique in Kent for the last fifteen years! Led by Dr Hannah Cook, the Kent and Medway Biological Records...

For the last four years, Julian Swayland and the team at Kent Movers Ltd have been building a solid reputation based on providing outstanding customer service. The family run business takes care of any type of domestic or commercial move, including all packing, disassembling and reassembling...

Our next business provides a vital service to people with disabilities or those who are socially isolated. Buddies Day Service provides trips out and activities for the groups mentioned above. Manager Philip Charles and his team of three volunteers have spent the last year establishing the...

Over the last 18 months, Kent Science Park-based Pivot Recruitment Solutions have firmly established themselves in the Waste Management and Recycling/Environmental recruitment sector. Tracy Carollo, Co-Director of the business, spoke about the challenges that they faced when starting out 18...

For over a decade, Tribeca Technology Group has managed IT support for businesses with up to 300 users. The Sittingbourne-based technology business offers numerous services, including Cyber Security, Disaster Recovery, Network Design and Software. Tribeca Technology Group is a business that...

For two years now, Erika Juodelaite has been developing her business, Beauty Poetry, which provides eyelash extensions to women of all ages, and beauty treatments such as facials to both men and women. Originally a home business, Erika relocated to a store on Sittingbourne high street, when it...

Nestled in the heart of Sheerness, Simply Silhouettes is a thriving beauty business offering a variety of treatments to both men and women. Available treatments include facials, HIFU non-surgical facelifts, full body wraps, waxing, fat freezing, laser lipo and more. Led by Anita Thomson, who...

Whilst many businesses will say that they exist to help other businesses flourish, for Peter and Janelle O’Keeffe, that truly is their business’ raison d’etre. They established Peak Performance in order to share their knowledge and experience with other business owners; offering a...

For the last six years, the Ickle Bites Cake Company has been building its reputation as a one-stop shop for cakes for all occasions. From weddings to christenings; baby showers to corporate events, Ickle Bites pride themselves on being able to provide the perfect bespoke celebration cake. Bridie...

For over twenty years now, Unipet International has been a stalwart of the Swale Business Community. Originally established in Gillingham in 1993, the company relocated to Sittingbourne in 1999 and hasn’t looked back since. From their two-and-a-half acre site on the Trinity Trading Estate,...

2018 has been an exciting year for Big Jam Studios. After several years of business demand growing, they took the plunge and relocated to a custom-built Unit at the Smeed Dean Centre on the Eurolink. Their new studio allows them to offer music, photography and video services from one...

For six years now, Bluebird Care (Swale) has been helping people of all ages by providing the full spectrum of care services; from assistance with specific daily tasks (such as preparing meals and assisting with personal hygiene), to the provision of complete 'Live in' arrangements where...

Now in its second year of trading, Beauty Academy South East is continuing to grow as a business. The Sittingbourne High Street-based sophomore company offers Beauty Therapy training, teaching people to a high professional standard so that upon completion of their training they are ready to...

Our next entrant is a business that can truly be the difference between life and death. For a year now, Spartan Medical Services has been providing first aid training as well as specialist medical cover for niche events/clients. This could include providing teams of Doctors, Paramedics and Nurses to...

The Neighbourhood Furniture Store is a charity second-hand furniture re-use project operating throughout Swale and the surrounding areas. The goal of the organisation is to offer good quality furniture and electrical appliances at affordable prices. One of the benefits of this is that waste is...

Our next entry into the Swale Business Awards is a sole trader that has spent the last three years building her customer base, selling both through her high street store and through Facebook. Katrina Lennox-Gurr has been running Fabricsagogo, an independent fabric, knitting and haberdashery shop in...

For the last five years, Faversham-based Modus Construction Consultants have been building a portfolio of clients throughout London and the Home Counties that utilise them for independent Quantity Surveying services. With five employees overseen by three directors, one of the biggest challenges...

Our next entrant for the 2018 awards is Kesson Physio. Despite having been operating for 35 years now, this is the first time that Kesson Physio has entered the Swale Business Awards. Company Director Denise Riggs explained why she felt that her business was in a good place to enter the 2018...

After winning last year’s coveted Customer Service and Commitment Award, The Harmony Therapy Trust are once again entering the Swale Business Awards. Established in 2010, The Harmony Therapy Trust provides supportive therapy to people throughout Kent during the time of their illness and at the...

For the last twelve years now, Kent Science Park-based Computer Rescue have been working hard to provide customers with reliable IT hardware, managed network back ups, third party handlings, remote access support and site maintenance. The business’ target market is small-to-medium sized local...

Our next entrants into the 2018 Swale Business Awards are a local charity radio station based on the Isle of Sheppey. Originally an Internet radio station, Sheppey FM was awarded a full Community Radio FM licence by Ofcom in recognition of the station’s unique work with disadvantaged and...

For the last 18 months, Saxon Shore have been providing residential sales and lettings to those looking to buy, sell or rent in the Faversham area. Led by a brother and sister team that grew up in Faversham, the emphasis of the business is very much family focused with a community ethos. Saxon...

At the 2017 Swale Business Awards, Kent Catering Service received the coveted accolade of Sheppey Business of the Year. Now the Sheerness-based business are once again entering the Swale Business Awards with their sights firmly set on a prize. The 20+ strong business has continued to go from...

For a decade now, ABM Training UK has been delivering in house NVQ apprenticeship training to Kent, Sussex and parts of London. With a team of 18 members of staff, ABM Training UK tackles apprenticeship training in the following areas: Health and Social Care, Teaching Support, ICT, Business...

Entering the Swale Business Awards for the first time in 2018 is Pecunia 2016, a sophomore business that provides a credit control consultancy and training service – helping businesses to focus on improving their cash flow and management of credit. Tracey Westell, Director of the business,...

Now in it’s third year of trading, Faversham-based Edibleculture is a horticulture business specialising in growing interesting and rare herbs, heritage vegetable plants, fruit trees and soft fruit bushes. Led by Director Chris Williams, the small team takes great pride in the fact that they...

For 25 years now, Hempstead House Hotel & Spa has been a premiere Swale attraction for Weddings, Spa Breaks and Corporate Events. Under the leadership of General Manager Mike Wood, Hempstead House has gone from strength-to-strength. Mike explained some of the ways that Hempstead House...

Our next business is proof-positive that diversification can be an incredible boon for the right business. Starting out as an event hire company in 2011, Sweet Expectations pivoted in 2016 and purchased a sweet shop in Rochester, quickly followed by a second in Faversham in 2017. They now have plans...

From it’s home on St George’s Business Park, Farmwood provide mechanical and electrical installations, maintenance and repairs, specialising in ventilation and air quality for individual homeowners through to multinational corporations. Now in its sixteenth year of trading, Farmwood...

Hamiltons International pride themselves on providing quality, bespoke items at an affordable price. Specialising in one-off bespoke locally made furniture; curtains, blinds and shutters, as well as mirrors and lighting, Hamiltons International has been trading for over 35 years, and relocated to...

AngelsLocks have had a great run when it comes to the Swale Business Awards. In 2016, AngelsLocks were named the first ever Sheppey Business of the Year Award and in 2017, Director Angela Croall picked up the title of Entrepreneur of the Year. Not one to...

Optima Opticians is a Primary Health Care centre offering a broad range of eye related services to customers in Faversham and throughout Swale and the rest of Kent. For 33 years now, the independent opticians have been delivering outstanding customer service to the local community. Yegi Govender...

Specialising in balloon making for all occasions, Sittingbourne Balloons, based at the Smeed Dean Centre, has successfully been growing their customer base over the last three years. The business provides a wide range of goods including personalised banners, chair covers, wedding decorations and...

At the 2017 Swale Business Awards, Burden Bros Agri Ltd took home the coveted title of Employer of the Year. Now, the 75-strong business has entered the 2018 awards, looking for a similar success. Managing Director Michael Read talked through Burden Bros Agri’s business. “We are a...

AbBaltis, based on the Kent Science Park, are a wonderful example of a small business that continues to grow. Under the leadership of Giedre Brandao, the eight-year-old business continues to develop rapidly as its international reach expands. Giedre explained exactly what AbBaltis does:...

Our next entrant is a sole trader who helps people to change their lives, improving their confidence and increasing their mental and physical wellbeing. Karen Richardson is an Independent Consultant, offering one-to-one weight loss support and motivation as she takes clients through the Cambridge...

Our next entrant is innovating in the field of photography. Kate Hennessy has been growing her photography business for the past five years. She is currently in a position where she is photographing around 40 weddings per year and she has recently set up a portrait studio in Iwade where she...

Having previously taken home prizes from the Swale Business Awards, No Place Like Home have once again thrown their hat into the ring for the 2018 awards. Providing exceptional, personalised, private companionship and care services for senior residents in and around Swale; No Place Like Home has a...

Over the course of the last decade, Rhubarb Business Services has developed an impressive proposition. The now 30-strong Kent Science Park-based business services other businesses – specifically those committed to high quality communication with their customers. Rhubarb works with these...

Sheppey-based business Olivers Personnel Services provide staff to work on the thriving Peel Ports site in Sheerness. Whilst their labour pool extends beyond Swale, they have recruited and retained 152 Swale residents in the last 12 months. Emma Wade is Director of the business. She explained the...

Now in her twentieth year of trading, Sylvia Lawrence’s thriving business Country Brides continues to go from strength-to-strength. The Faversham business, provides bridal wear to customers from local areas and London, with some people travelling from other parts of the country and all over...

The Swale Business Awards recognise the best and brightest of business in Swale, whether it is a Sole Trader operating out of a home office, or a business that has been at the heart of the local economy for almost a century and a half. Our next entrant definitely falls into the latter...

For two decades now, Mr India has been providing authentic Indian and Bangladeshi cuisine with a modern twist from their base on the Isle of Sheppey. The Sheerness business is entering the 2018 Swale Business Awards after already picking up the prestigious title of “Chef of the Year” at...