A VIP all-expenses paid trip to London, including an overnight stay in the luxurious Hilton Hotel on Park Lane, awaits Barnoldswick shopkeepers Alan Sagar and Penny Greenwood.

Their shop, Rainhall Food and Drink on Rainhall Road, has won through to the national finals of the Booker Prize for Excellence.

The annual competition is run by the wholesale supply giant Booker Cash and Carry and recognises outstanding achievement by its customers.

Alan and Penny were nominated in the off-licence section of the competition by their local Booker supplier.

That nomination recognises the hard work which has made Rainhall Food and Drink one of the best-stocked off-licences in the region.

In particular, it has been developed as a specialist supplier of bottled beers - Alan and Penny turning one of their own interests into an exciting business venture.

The shelves already groan with about 160 varieties, including a wide range of British brews, exotic fruit beers and wheat beers from the continent, and even Trappist and abbey beers, brewed by monks.

But Alan and Penny have even bigger plans, with a project to convert and open up the cellar at the shop, extending the range to give access to around 600 different beers and lagers, not to mention wines and spirits.

Alan is proud to have personally sampled most of his stock - how else could he advise his loyal customers, many of whom know him by his not-so-flattering nickname, Fat Al!

He explained that the shop had already been through two rounds of judging to reach the national final of the Booker Prize. First he and Penny had to send off snapshots of the shop and staff, and details of its history and future plans. Next, Booker judges visited the premises unannounced and made a video of the premises.

Then came the letter telling them they had reached the national final and were invited to the dinner and awards ceremony at the Hilton Hotel, where rooms start at over £200 a night.

"I'm scared to death!" admitted Penny. "It's a big thing for a little shop in a little town."

Alan agreed, saying: "It's incredible that we've reached the final because this is a national competition. I'm certainly looking forward to the trip."

Last year's awards ceremony was presented by TV personality Loyd Grossman along the lines of an Oscars night, with video footage of each of the nominees and their stores. Alan and Penny will be filmed again before the awards ceremony in early April.

There is a £1,000 prize for the winner of each category and £5,000 and a trip to America for the overall winner. But for now, Alan and Penny are just glad to have reached the final and will push ahead with their beer cellar project, confident of opening the new venture this Spring.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.