A Midsomer Norton electrical engineering company has been voted Somersets best large business in a prestigious awards ceremony in Weston-super-Mare

The winners of the 2019 Somerset Business Awards were announced on Friday, 25 October, at a glittering black-tie event at the Winter Gardens Pavilion, in Weston-super-Mare.

Nearly 400 business people from across Somerset attended the gala evening, which was organised by Somerset Chamber of Commerce and hosted by Somerset cricket legend Peter Trego.

The 2019 finalists came from all corners of the county, from Bridgwater, Taunton, Frome, Axbridge, Evercreech, Edington, Wheddon Cross and Wincanton, to Wellington, Sparkford, Shepton Mallet, Roadwater, Watchet, Weston-super-Mare, Yeovil, Glastonbury, Congresbury and Highbridge.

This year was the 15th anniversary of the awards and Somerset Chamber Chief Executive Stephen Henagulph thanked everyone who had entered: "I am extremely proud of our county's businesses; we were all blown away by the quality of the entries and what Somerset's businesses are achieving and producing.

"It was fantastic to be able to honour winners and finalists from all corners of the county and from a wide range of sectors and industries. Thank you to everyone who entered the awards and thank you to our judges and sponsors who continue to make these the biggest and best business awards in Somerset."

It was the 10th year main sponsor Albert Goodman had supported the awards and Managing Partner Richard Bugler said it was an honour to be celebrating the very best businesses in Somerset.

"Businesses are the lifeblood of this county. There is a lot to be gloomy about at the moment, but despite all this the Somerset business community continues to do what it does best," Mr Bugler said.

Large Business of the Year (sponsored by PKF Francis Clark):

Winner - Bridges Electrical Engineers Ltd, Midsomer Norton

The runners-up were: Marston Foods, Frome and The Flavourworks, Wincanton

The Business of the Year Awards look for the "wow factor" in companies, delivering the full package and more. The winning businesses demonstrate how they stand out from the crowd in areas such as ambition, profitability, growth, sound business planning, customer satisfaction and management of people. The large business category is for businesses with more than 50 staff. It was presented by Ben Lee, Business Services Director, of PKF Francis Clark.

The award was accepted by Mathew Bridges and Chris Maddox. Mr Bridges said: "It's a huge honour to win this award – I'm so proud of our team to have won it."

All the finalists were filmed by media students from Weston College who created short films about each business which were shown during the evening and will form part of the students' studies.