Dorchester jewellery business wins first regional award

After being nominated for a Southern Enterprise Award, SME carried out background checks on their website and social media pages to see what the business was about.

Owner Neil Strudwick said even just being put in the final felt amazing to them:

"When we found out we had won, well, we were over the moon. It is so bizarre and surreal winning an award after everything that's been going on."

He said the award is well deserved though, as during lockdown they were out doing their bit for the community.

"We were taking cakes here and there, to hospitals, hospices, the emergency services and that was actually included in the application.

"It's just great to be nominated for some of the hard we've done during the lockdown, not just in the shop but in the community.

"We think we won it because not only are we a family run business, but the success we've had over the years, all of our customer feedback and all the commission based pieces we've made for all our customers.

"It's just made life a bit brighter in these dull times."

It is Goldcrest's first regional award for the South West but they've been successful in the Dorset Wedding Supplier awards where they've won five years running and won three awards with.

Neil said it's not been easy running a business during a pandemic but their sales have remained as they were.

"Being a business in the jewellery sector at the moment is quite tough, because we mainly do wedding rings, that whole industry is shut down at the moment, our repair business has taken off though.

"But you know the whole industry, retail in all businesses across the board are suffering because of what's going on."