EIGHT business in Stroud district have claimed prestigious awards in a county-wide industry face-off.

The Muddy Stilettos Awards include 27 different industry categories ranging from Hair Salons to Fitness Instructors and Restaurants to Theatres.

Stroud contains three of the Gloucestershire’s winners, with best family attraction going to Giffords Circus (33.1 per cent), best fitness instructor going to Forma Gymnastic Strength Training (34.8 per cent) and best interiors store going to Malt House Emporium (33.9 per cent).

Nailsworth also boasts three winning titles with best bar for The Vault (31.7 per cent), best jewellery store for Armed & Gorgeous (51.1 per cent) and best men’s store for James Lear (42.7 per cent).

Wotton wins the mantle of the county’s favourite café with 33.6 per cent voting for The Edge Café.

Stonehouse plays host to Gloucestershire’s favoured local producer of food and drink with 38.2 per cent voting for the Salt Bakehouse.

The awards are organised by a blog, which carries the same name, that launched initially in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire and written by ex Red, Marie Claire and Independent on Sunday journalist Hero Brown.

Muddy Stilettos now runs across 18 English counties, including Gloucestershire, acting as the ‘ultimate urban guide to the countryside’.

It hopes to “find and celebrate the most genuinely brilliant, unique, quirky, exciting businesses in the area.”

A spokesman published on the Muddy Stilettos site: “A heartfelt thank you to everyone who entered and voted in this year’s highly contested Muddy Stilettos Awards.

“The response to the awards this year has been incredible, with up to 100,000 people per day voting across the Muddy Stilettos sites.

“The ethos of Muddy Stilettos is all about celebrating and supporting the most unique, interesting, brilliant lifestyle businesses and we hope that we’ve helped to shine a light on the amazing talent in our region.

“Our congratulations to all the winners as well as the worthy finalists.”