UNIQUE Hair Studio, on Bolton Road, Bradford, won an accolade in the Retail, Leisure and Hospitality Awards.

The Best Established Business award celebrates businesses that have stood the test of time, have established, survived, and thrived in the district, showing resilience over a long period of time.

The category was sponsored by The Broadway.

Unique Hair Studio owner Janet Brown said: “I was so shocked at winning the award, and very proud to receive it. It was an amazing event and it was an honour to attend.

“I never in a million years thought I would have won - and just to get into the finals was a great achievement on its own. To attend such an event was fabulous but to win was something else. Thank you so much.”

She added: “Unique hair has been open for 28 years. We started off in the smaller shop next door and nine years ago extended into the bigger shop and introduced beauty into the salon.

“I have a fabulous team - Rachel Lee, who has been with me since I opened, Faye Cunningham, my beautician, who has been with me for nine years, and Keiran Hughes who has been with me since he was 13 and who is now 21. He left for a while to do some training but came back after the training.” 

She added: “The staff I have are so loyal and hardworking and we make a fab team. Then there’s my lovely clientele, my business would not have survived without them either and after Covid they all came back. We are like a big extended family in the salon - I love it and love my work, staff and clientele. 

“It hasn’t been easy over the years and I’ve had to work long hours as I am a single parent and had no help from anyone. But it paid off and I would not change anything.”

The award nomination says: “We are well loved in the local community with clients that have been coming to use our services since the day we opened our doors back in 1996. Our clients are very dear to us all. We have met some amazing people over the years, many of which we now consider friends.”

Winners of 2023's Retail, Leisure and Hospitality Awards

Find out about the winners by clicking each category below.