Iain Thompson, the Flower Council of Holland’s Area Manager presented Martin and his mother, Judith Barrow with their cheque worth £5,000 to invest in business development. 

Lisa Barrow, the third partner in Fleurs de Lisa was unable to be at the ceremony as she has a three week old baby.

Unanimous decision – the Winner
Fleurs de Lisa was the undisputed choice of the independent panel of Judges who came from niche retailing (Natalie di Giorgio, Marketing Manager of Korres cosmetics), the national press (Melanie Whitehouse from Express Newspapers), retail expertise (Tim Danaher, Editor of Retail Week magazine) and the flower industry (Caroline Marshall-Foster, Editor & Publisher of the Florist & Wholesale Buyer).

The Judges assessed the 8 Platinum finalists who had been whittled down from the original 500 who had registered for the Award, which was initiated and managed by the Flower Council of Holland working with the relay companies, Flowergram, Interflora and Teleflorist.

The 8 Platinum finalists had been successful in 3 gruelling rounds that assessed their skills in the following areas:

o Floristry
o Shop presentation
o Flower display
o Customer service
o Business management

Mystery shoppers and callers also assed how they would be perceived by the general public.

Unanimous decision – Runner-up 
Remarkably the Judges were also unanimous about the choice for the Runner-up spot which went to Interflora’s Sarah Horne Flowers of Leamington Spa.

Further information:

Flowergram Flower Shop of the Year 2006

Independent Flower Shop of the Year 2006

Interflora Flower Shop of the Year 2006

Teleflorist Flower Shop of the Year 2006