THEY have been selling the Southern Daily Echo for a decade.

Now a city newsagent has been recognised with a sparkling award.

Morfair Supermarket has been named the best Southern Daily Echo Retailer of the Year at the NFRN Southern Region Awards.

It comes after hundreds of readers nominated their favourite local shops and told us how important they are to the community, the way they go out of their way to help and the warm welcome people get when they pop in for a pint of milk.

Almost 100 people nominated the Swaythling shop, telling us how their hardworking, polite and helpful staff went the extra mile. The shop even runs its own weekly home delivery service for elderly residents and helps book taxis for them.

Now, as they celebrate their 10th birthday, Morfair Supermarket has been presented with £100 in vouchers and a trophy.

The shop, which includes a Post Office, was opened in 2006 by Yagnesh, 44, and Jigna Gor, 43, who dreamed of having their own business.

Since then the couple and their team of four staff have built up a good reputation for customer service and being a one-stop-shop for essentials.

Owner and dad-of-one Yagnesh said: “It’s a surprise. It’s all from customer feedback so you feel like you’re doing well and it gives us a boost to keep up the hard work. It gives us more chance to give more to the community. I believe that without our customers we are nothing so the customer always comes first.

“We want to thank everyone, from the bottom of our hearts, for supporting us and helping us to win this award.”

The award was presented at a glamorous event in Reading.

Newspaper sales and promotions manager Kerry Darwin added: “Morfair Supermarket, is a deserving winner of The Southern Daily Echo retailer of the year award.

“The Echo sponsors the NFRN Southern Region Awards and this particular award helps us celebrate all the good work our independent retailers do.

“Readers were asked to nominate their favourite newsagent and Morfair Supermarket was one of a great many nominations received.

“The staff and the shop itself is hugely popular with customers and week after week, stacks of nomination forms were received. Subject then to some pretty tough qualifying criteria, Morfair quickly emerged as a winner.

“It was my pleasure to present them with this award at the gala dinner in Reading and announce them as The Southern Daily Echo newsagent of the year.”