STAFF at a North-East newsagents are celebrating after it was voted the best independent retailer in the country.
Stevens Newsagents, in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, held off the challenge of 28,000 other newsagents to win the industry award in London.
The store, which has 14 full and part-time staff, was nominated to take part in the competition, run by the William Reed published Convenience Store magazine.
Judges rated shops on aspects including hygiene, advertising and display of goods.
Stevens' boss Chris Young was invited to the awards ceremony in London, where he discovered the newsagents had won. Mr Young, 39, who runs newsagents in Stanley, County Durham, and Wetherby, West Yorkshire, said: "We are overjoyed. We have been in the finals for the last two years and have been runners-up.
"The shop is well run and we have got excellent staff and we just keep working hard at it.
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