By Bradbury Williams

Eight Cuckfield businesses have been nominated for the prestigious Muddy Stilettos Awards 2021.

Artologie - Best Art Gallery - FINALIST

Beautique - Best Beauty Salon - nominated

p.j and The Hare - Best Children’s Business - nominated

Ockenden Manor Hotel & Spa - Best Day Spa - FINALIST

Tom’s Food - Best Cafe - nominated

Oliver Cunningham - Best Hair Salon - FINALIST

Pepperbox Interiors - Best Interiors Store - FINALIST

jojo Boutique - Best Women’s Fashion Store - FINALIST

One of the most coveted accolades for independent enterprises, they are run by the Muddy Stilettos website, the biggest lifestyle site outside of London.

When they were last run in 2019, around 750,000 customers and Muddy readers voted. Now in their eighth year, they’re seen as one of the most valued local business awards, providing a huge boost for winners in 27 lifestyle categories across 25 counties.

Artologie in Cuckfield, finalist in Best Art Gallery category

“It’s really exciting and it will help to promote the business alongside all the other galleries in Sussex, but there is a lot of competition,” said Wendy Rowark of Artologie, who is a nominee in the Best Gallery in Sussex category. “I am really hoping to go on to the next steps of the awards process.”

Over the long lockdown months, Wendy has been busy developing and expanding a very successful website. “I did three webinars and then learned as I went along. On average people spend just a few seconds on each page, so you have to work hard to keep their attention,” she added.

For the Muddy Stilettos, it would be more than appropriate for Cuckfield to feature amongst the winners as Cuckfield was named by them as one of the best villages to live in Sussex – just behind Steyning.

The finalists to the awards have now been selected and you can find out whether you can now vote for the Cuckfield-nominated businesses as part of the Muddy Stilettos finals online at: https://sussex.muddystilettos.co.uk – the winners will be announced at the end of July.

By Bradbury Williams

More than a year of massive uncertainty and draconian lockdowns have taken a huge toll on local businesses, but many are already bouncing back.

When life as we knew it ground to halt last March, Bolnore Village beautician Jade Lewis was faced with some pretty hard choices. The business she had started just seven months earlier was forced to shut for an indefinite period, and she was left with no income and no chance of any government support, as she’d been trading for less than a year. “I knew I had to do something quickly because I had to earn a living, but I also knew there were lots of people worse off than me,” said Jade. She rapidly found a new job as an internet shopper for Sainsbury’s, despite the regular 4am starts, she was grateful to find work.

As the first lockdown was coming to an end, the Honeycomb Hair Lounge in Bolnore Village, where Jade also runs her business, was quickly back to normal despite a huge new range of health and safety challenges to negotiate. “It was a very worrying time but we had kept in touch with all of our clients,” said Manager Steph Carden, “but it was very sad for Jade as she was not able to open for much longer.”

The new normal radically changed the way the salon operated. “It was not a great atmosphere, there were lots of rules, we couldn’t offer drinks and people were not allowed to wait,” added Steph. It was similar for Jade when she was finally allowed to open the beauticians but she was able to hit the ground running, mainly because she had also kept in very close contact with her clients. Business boomed for the rest of the summer but as the virus took hold again prompting the autumn lockdown Jade decided to take her destiny into her own hands. She qualified to work to as an NHS vaccinator and for much of the last six months has worked alongside a huge team at the Brighton Centre. “I wanted to be part of the solution and I learnt a lot but it is really exciting to get back to my business and see how I can build it up in the future,” added Jade.

This article continues inside May’s Cuckfield Life magazine on pages 16 & 17, where you can read more about your local high street and those within it like: Chris Preston, owner of Cuckfield Garden Machinery at Whiteman’s Green, Anne and Robin Upton and their 2.5 acre caravan site, Jo Jo’s boutique, Pepperbox Interiors, and a few more!

Cuckfield shops aim for clean sweep in Muddy Stilettos Awards 2021

How Bolnore and Cuckfield businesses bounced back