Party at Gloucester Brewery celebrates SoGlos Gloucestershire Business Awards 2022 finalists

A sensational event took place at Gloucester Brewery’s Warehouse 4 taproom on Tuesday 19 July 2022 – celebrating the high calibre finalists in the 2022 SoGlos Gloucestershire Business Awards, sponsored by Willans LLP solicitors and Hazlewoods.

If you were passing, you would be forgiven for thinking it was the SGGBA awards night itself, such was the celebratory atmosphere (as one of the guests said, the evening was 'very SoGlos'!), but the 160-plus guests from the county business community, finalists and sponsors, were simply there to celebrate the journey so far.

Temperatures touching 40 degrees didn't deter the partying, with county pizza supremos Fabioni’s serving guests sensational stonebaked slices, while hosts Gloucester Brewery's beer proved exceptionally popular. As Jared Brown, co-founder of the brewery put it, ‘Gloucestershire has so much to celebrate. We should all be really proud of what we have here’.

James Fyrne, managing director of SoGlos, which is celebrating its 15th anniversary, said: ‘I would like to congratulate everyone here this evening. You have made it so far already. As one of our judges said, the quality of the entries was 'world class'.

‘We received a total of 382 nominations from 178 companies and after deliberations sent a shortlist of 206 to our panel of 24 judges and we have ended up with 81 businesses as finalists across all of our categories.’

Felicity McClintock, of Cheltenham-headquartered Willans LLP solicitors, said: ‘It has been another really strong year for entries and reminded us we have some amazing businesses and talent here in Gloucestershire and such a great business community.’

Ryan Hancock, a director of the corporate services team at Hazlewoods, said: 'To see so many of the county’s business community coming together is absolutely great. A real sign of the desire and drive to get out and about, meet face to face and promote business in Gloucestershire.

'It’s really good to see lots of new faces mixing with many familiar ones. The depth of talent and experience locally is clearly continuing to grow and events like this are a great opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate that.'

Rebecca Copping, associate partner at Hazlewoods, added that the county has come 'really amazing businesses.’

David Evans, of Evans Jones, sponsors of the Large Business of the year award, said: ‘Going through the judging was a reminder just how many really brilliant businesses we have. It is great to see new businesses coming through, and growing, and to be able to celebrate that.’

Neil Smith, ReformIT, sponsors of the Team of the year award, added: ‘I was just chatting to one of the finalists, Fire & Flow Coffee, about how they have grown. It reminded me of where ReformIT were six or seven years ago and made me think – Gloucestershire is such a great incubator for businesses.’

Brian Morman, chairman of Brunsdon Financial, sponsors of Best Place to Work award, said: ‘The county really has become a go to area. We have a great economy and community going on here, a lot of creativity and events like this help us become more aware of all of that.’

Tim Atkins, managing director for place and growth at Cheltenham Borough Council, a finalist in the Roberts Limbrick-sponsored Public Sector Excellence award, said: ‘I am quite blown away by the number and calibre of entries across all the categories. And then to come to an event like this, it reminded you just how great the businesses and community is here in Gloucestershire and these awards help us all celebrate that.'

Winners will be announced at the awards night itself, on Thursday 20 October 2022 at the University of Gloucestershire's Business School. To find out more, including who the finalists are this year and more about the sponsors, visit SoGlos Gloucestershire Business Awards 2022 #SGGBA.