YOUNG entrepreneurs who found success in the Middlesbrough heat of the TestTown initiative are hoping their winning streak continues at the national finals this weekend.

The competition, devised by Carnegie UK Trust and supported by Middlesbrough Council gave budding tycoons the opportunity to drum up trade for their new business ideas in empty shop.

Haroon Ali, 20, and James Canmer, also 20, won the regional heat of TestTown in Middlesbrough in May with their business Bubble CreativiTea which was based in the Dundas Arcade.

Bubble CreativiTea displayed local art while serving traditional Bubble Tea from Taiwan, a drink containing tapioca 'black pearl' balls that are sucked up through a large straw.

Winners of the eight regional heats will compete in Cambridge over the weekend, with the business with the highest takings and most innovative presentation winning £100,000 in start-up funding and mentoring for their new company.

Jim Metcalfe, TestTown UK programme leader, said: “The British high street is still in dire straits despite economic recovery. There are too many barriers preventing young people from rejuvenating the retail offer available in our towns and cities.

“It is time to prescribe a new course of treatment and that is exactly what TestTown aims to do. We have gone straight to the next generation of shoppers and asked them what would encourage them into the high street.”