Walsh’s Newsagent takes top award

Timothy Walsh of Walsh’s Newsagent collected the award at the Park Plaza Riverbank Hotel in London on Tuesday 13 October.

More than 350 people attended the glittering awards presentation and saw Timothy receive his award from Chris Rolfe, deputy editor of Newstrade Publishing who sponsored the category, and Awards host, radio presenter Nick Ferrari.

Timothy was delighted to pick up the award after travelling over last week.

He said: “I’m over the moon and delighted for everyone involved. There was strong competition with 16,000 applicants from 18,000 stores.

“I’m surprised. It was a great honour just to be on the shortlist. We got an all expenses paid trip to London and wined and dined so to go on and win was even better.”

According to the judges, Timothy’s shop has one of the most extensive magazine displays for miles.

They were also impressed with his commitment and enthusiasm for this important product category, his support for new launches and the efforts he will make to acquire specialist titles to satisfy his customers’ demands.

Walsh’s Newsagents would have been assessed on their product knowledge, product availability and product display.

Publishers would have a big say in who wins the awards and they work alongside the NFRN to determine the winners.

This is actually the second time that Walsh’s Newsagents has won the prestigious award.

In 1988, when the award was called the Newsagent of the Year award, Walsh’s came on out on top.

Timothy said: “In 1988 my father won this award.

“Walsh’s was named Newsagent of the Year so when I took over I knew I had big foot steps to follow in.

“To win it twice is a great achievement and it shows the business is still improving and going from strength to strength.”

The NFRN Awards, which are awarded annually by the National Federation of Retail Newsagents, recognise excellence in news and convenience retailing, rewarding those who have made an outstanding contribution to the sector.

The NFRN represents 15,000 independent convenience stores in the UK and ROI.