STORE FINDER

Local attraction wins national award

Popular tourist attraction Oswaldtwistle Mills has been named UK’s most coach friendly shopping attraction at a prestigious awards ceremony.

Oswaldtwistle Mills was presented with the award at the 2009 UK Coach Award Ceremony, after it was voted best shopping attraction by the readers of Coach and Bus week magazine.

The shopping village beat off stiff opposition from leading national attractions including Trafford Centre, to take the winning title.

The award is designed to recognise and reward tourist attractions who have gone ‘that extra’ mile to accommodate, attract, and welcome coaches, their drivers and their passengers.

Ossy Mills has attracted more than 1.1m visitors including 1,600 coach parties from all over the country in the last two years; every individual was personally greeted by a member of staff and was provided with gratuity vouchers to use in store.

They are renowned for their Group Visitor programme which includes a dedicated Group Bookings Team to advise visitors, itinerary planning and organising coach travel.

Boyd Hargreaves, managing director of Oswaldtwistle Mills, said: “It’s fantastic that we have been voted as the country’s number one attraction that tourists want to visit.

“We pride ourselves on delivering the friendliest customer service and we are continually looking at ways to expand and develop our mix of retail, food, crafts and services.

“The award couldn’t have come at a better time, as we had 18 coaches over the Easter weekend which beat our previous record,” he added.

The Awards Ceremony took place at the Tower Hotel and the evening was compered by BBC Breakfast's Carol Kirkwood.

The awards themselves were presented by Wilben Short, Head of Transport, London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games.

Back to News Page

STORE FINDER

WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR?

Local attraction wins national award