It's a clean sweep for Louise

Hungerford businesswoman wins top franchising award

A HUNGERFORD businesswoman has won a national award.

Louise Harris was honoured with a special recognition award at the NatWest Encouraging Women Into Franchising (EWIF) awards in Central London – the first time it has been presented in eight years.

She and husband Peter run the local Wilkins Chimney Sweep franchise and earlier this year theirs was ranked 54th in a new league table.

Wilkins Chimney Sweep was established in Newbury in 1895 by Tom Wilkins, using a bicycle with his brush and rods strapped to the crossbar.

The business continued to thrive and was bought by Mr and Mrs Harris in 1998, who ran it from their Hungerford home office.

In 2001, the couple franchised the company, which now has 14 franchisees operating across the UK.

Mrs Harris said: “This was a truly unexpected surprise and, of course, a great honour. EWIF is a terrific source of help for women and, although I sometimes provide that help, they have been a consistent source of encouragement for me too.”