STAFF at Festival Place are celebrating after double success at an awards ceremony.

The shopping centre scooped tow awards at this year’s Sceptre Awards, which were held in London.

The awards recognise and reward excellence in the shopping industry, and the awards seek out the country’s best management teams, retailers and suppliers.

At the ceremony Rachel Moss, Paul Sawyer and the customer service team from Festival Place returned to the town as winners.

Rachel was presented with the award for Retail Liaison Manager of the Year, at the ceremony. She was recognised for implementing a new retail strategy highlighting opportunities to increase turnover, and has introduced a mystery shop programme, retailer awards and free retailer training.

The shopping centre’s staff who work at the Customer Service Lounge claimed the Customer Service Team of the Year, for expanding the centre’s range of offerings.

During the last year, they have recorded record levels of gift card purchases, introduced additional service delivery training, and partnered with a school academy for young people with learning difficulties to help them prepare students for future employment.

Centre Director Neil Churchill said: “This was a fantastic night for us – I’m so proud of the whole team here at Festival Place who work tirelessly every day to deliver exceptional service.

“It is a huge achievement to win against such tough competition from the brightest and best in the shopping centre industry.”

As well as the two gongs claimed at the awards, commended highly in the Young Person Achievement category, Paul Sawyer, 29, who part of the finance team was praised for introducing new tenant packs for all retailers for transparency across the board.

He works closely with local charities, and monitors centre expenditure.