A BUMPER crowd could be on hand to celebrate the achievements of Slough businesses at an annual awards.

Slough Business Awards will take place on March 17 at Hilton Heathrow Terminal 5 Hotel in Colnbrook, with the best of Slough’s businesses receiving awards for their successes.

More than 150 tickets have already been sold for the gala dinner, and Slough Business Awards organiser and chairman Rafiq Chohan is keen to top last year’s attendance.

He said: “Tables are selling well for the gala dinner. We have 150 tickets which have been either booked or pre-booked and given we had around 280 at last year’s event, it has been a fantastic response.

“We are hoping to get around 350 people for this year’s awards dinner.”

The deadline for nominations for this year’s awards was extended from today (Friday) until Monday, February 8, and Mr Chohan is keen to see as many entries as possible.

He said: “Most categories are well represented but we would like to see a few more in the Boss of the Year and Employer of the Year categories. All of the other categories are filling up nicely.

“We have had around 60 entries across the board, but the important thing is that we have got enough applications across all categories.”

Mr Chohan added: “Even though we have had more applications than at the same stage last year I am still keen to have a very competitive list of applicants.

“This [the extension] is also to accommodate some applicants who have taken leave in January and now find themselves needing more time to submit.”

There are two new categories for this year’s event – Employer of the Year and Young Entrepreneur of the Year – adding to the vast amount of business and individual awards already covered.

The awards are open to all businesses in the 'SL postcode, and is being sponsored by Heathrow Airport, as well as 23 other local sponsors and stakeholders, including the Slough Chamber, Slough Borough Council, Santander Bank and Segro.

Sponsorship opportunities are also available for the gala dinner event programme with full page A5 size spots, as well as half page and a third of a page.

The charity partner for this year’s awards is Slough Refugee Support, with proceeds of the raffle going towards the charity helping those in need.

Charity raffle contributions are also welcome to raise money, and Mr Chohan is hoping to confirm a guest host for the evening over the next couple of weeks.

To view all of the categories, nominate a business and book tickets for the gala dinner visit www.sloughbusinessawards.com.