The award
The Business Action North Devon Welcomes Award celebrates retailers, hospitality, tourism and face-to-face service businesses who offer a warm personal welcome to their customers.
Warm welcomes are North Devon’s biggest hidden secret, but need to be shared far and wide to maintain our communities both for residents and visitors – that’s why we launched the North Devon welcomes scheme with free and premium memberships.
From Clovelly to Lynmouth, from Holsworthy to South Molton, North Devon offers a stunning coastline and picturesque scenery providing a beautiful environment in which to live, work and holiday, but the friendliness and service of our shops, pubs, cafés and high street businesses create a remarkable community.
Small gestures can have the biggest impact, from welcoming someone to come inside your premises, offering a tired traveller a chair, agreeing to prepare a dish not on your menu to help a diner, going out of your way to save the day for your customers and make them feel welcome and valued.
The North Devon Welcomes Award recognises businesses including small shops, department stores, farm shops, B&Bs, hotels, holiday parks, visitor attractions and entertainment, restaurants, pubs, cafés and takeaways, barbers and hairdressers, opticians/hearing, health and wellness, and all businesses with high street premises or with a door through which customers can enter.
Let’s shout out about the warmth of our welcomes to attract more visitors and help North Devon thrive.
Finalists 2026
Our North Devon Welcomes Award finalists are:
- Cottages on the Coast
- Scribbleton
- The Whole Jar – Winner!
- Watermouth Castle
Congratulations to all!
Sponsor this award – call 07971 176044
Criteria
The judges are looking for evidence of the criteria below – use these as a guide for your entry and tell your story!
- Extending a hearty North Devon welcome to one and all
- Treating every customer with friendliness, courtesy and respect (with the expectation of reciprocal treatment from customers)
- Providing clear information about products, services, timescales and prices
- Working enthusiastically to maintain a quality service at peak times or under pressure
- Resolving any issues fairly and promptly
- Demonstrating your appreciation of customers’ value
- Working alongside fellow businesses to ensure consistently high standards of customer service across North Devon
Who can enter?
The North Devon Welcomes Award is open to: small shops, department stores, farm shops, B&Bs, hotels, holiday parks, visitor attractions and entertainment, restaurants, pubs, cafés and takeaways, barbers and hairdressers, opticians/hearing, health and wellness, and all businesses with high street premises or with a door through which customers can enter.
Enter your own business or if you’re a customer please nominate welcoming businesses you use.
Category rules for entry
Please follow the category rules below, which also include useful suggestions on how to ensure your entry showcases achievements in the best possible light.
- You can enter your own business or another business for this award.
- This award is for retailers, hospitality, tourism and face-to-face service businesses.
- Ensure you read the awards terms and conditions.
- Read the criteria and the questions on the form below in advance so that you understand what the judges are looking for and tailor your answers to these.
- There is no restriction on how much information you can provide in your answers, although please ensure that anything you say is relevant to this award. The questions are deliberately open to enable you to submit the best possible entry and the examples given are purely illustrative. Add any other information you feel is important to highlight success.
- Provide as much detail and evidence as possible to back up your claims, including relevant links to web sites and videos.
- Write and save your answers in a note-making or word-processing app first and copy them into the form below. This ensures you do not lose anything you have taken a long time to write.
- Attach any files, eg customer compliments or images of products, to support your entry.
- The closing date for entries is 23:59 on Tuesday 10 March 2026.
Award now closed for entries
Thank you.
