Peckforton Castles Chris Naylor is Business Person of the Year at Cheshire Business Awards 2013

CHESTER, U.K. - Jan. 10, 2014 - PRLog -- Chris received the special award, presented to the individual who has shown outstanding leadership, at the 10^th Anniversary of the event held at Chester Racecourse and hosted by Granada Reports anchor Lucy Meacock.

The honour came as a total surprise to the Managing Director of Peckforton Castle who gave a heartfelt speech when he accepted the award, dedicating it to his team:

“This award is for all of us, not just for me”

He went on to say:

“This award means a lot to me and it is an honour to receive it, especially as there are so many fantastic businesses in our region. I grew up in Cheshire and I am proud of our successful community which is helping drive forward local economy and put Cheshire on the business map.”

Matt Bullas from Click Consult, sponsors of the Business Person of the Year award, was impressed at how Chris had transformed the Castle into an enchanting and exciting venue in the heart of Cheshire:

“To win this award, you must have demonstrated true entrepreneurism, helped to grow the reputation of your business and the region of Cheshire and been an inspiration to those around you. Chris Naylor has fulfilled each one of these criteria and he is a worthy winner of the Business Person of the Year award.”

This latest nod cements Chris Naylor’s standing as one of the North West’s leading businessmen as he joins past winners Simon Nixon founder of Moneysupermarket.com, Dawn Gibbins MBE and founder of Flowcrete and Andrew Donaldson founder of BiG Storage.

The Cheshire Business Awards are a celebration of the excellence of the leading businesses that are driving forward the growing economy of the Cheshire Region through these challenging times.

This year the judges were particularly delighted to receive a 36% increase in entries with very strong contenders in every category.

Peckforton Castle itself was shortlisted in the Large Business of the Year category and despite not picking up the gong has already had a successful 12 months; receiving its 3^rd AA Rosette, winning Hotel of the Year at the Marketing Cheshire Awards and being Highly Commended in the Large Hotel of the Year category at the national VisitEngland Awards.

Since the Naylor family bought the Castle in 2006 it has gone from strength to strength even surviving a terrible arson attack back in 2011 that nearly destroyed the business and Grade 1 listed building.

They are currently running at a very high occupancy level and have successfully applied for planning permission to extend into the one remaining wing of the castle yet to be used.

Alongside this development they plan to sympathetically restore the castles original ‘engine shed’ buildings into an outside activity centre with additional yurt village accommodation within the woodland, allowing them to grow their leisure business and become a true leisure destination.

www.peckfortoncastle.co.uk