Lancashire wins gold, silver and bronze at national awards ceremony
Lancashire’s finalists at the VisitEngland Awards for Excellence ceremony, held at Bristol Aerospace on the evening of 3 June 2026, walked away with the full set of gold, silver and bronze awards and return to Lancashire as national award-winners, part of England’s tourism elite.
Having won earlier this year at the Lancashire Tourism Awards, Eight at Gazegill by Doug Crampton was then named a finalist in two categories in the national awards: The Taste of England award and the Regenerative Tourism Award. Andy Black from HAPPA (Horses and Ponies Protection Association), also went forward to the nationals in the Unsung Hero category.
Eight at Gazegill beat all competition to take the gold award for Regenerative Tourism and won the silver award in the Taste of England category. Andy Black from HAPPA won the bronze award in the Unsung Hero category.
Vikki Harris, Marketing and Partnerships Director of Marketing Lancashire, attended the event in Bristol and picked up the award for Andy Black who was unable to attend. She said
“Lancashire’s finalists in this year’s Visit England Awards for Excellence shone brightly amongst some of the country’s leading tourism businesses and triumphed spectacularly! Together they bring back gold, silver and bronze trophies to Lancashire and we couldn’t be prouder of them.
“Lancashire’s tourism and hospitality sector makes a valuable contribution to the Lancashire economy, over £5.7billion and it is businesses like Eight at Gazegill and people like Andy Black, who make Lancashire so very appealing to visitors and keep them coming back, year after year.
” They have put the focus firmly on Lancashire’s innovative food and drink, regenerative tourism, customer service and welcome and we couldn’t have better representatives of Lancashire’s excellence than Eight at Gazegill and Andy Black from HAPPA.
“We expect their celebrations to continue for some time, as they start to realise the significance of this national recognition and we will continue to champion them wholeheartedly as part of the county’s incredible tourism offer.”
The annual Lancashire Tourism Awards, organised by Marketing Lancashire, are the stepping-stone to the Visit England Awards for Excellence and applications for the Lancashire Tourism Awards 2027, the only county-wide awards for the tourism and hospitality sector, are now open. For more information go to www.lancashiretourismawards.com
Closing date for most applications is 30 June 2026.
Find information on all the winners of the Visit England Awards for Excellence 2026 here.