TV judge and street dance supremo, Ashley Banjo, hosted the intu Merry Hill retailer awards at the Copthorne Hotel on Saturday.

The region’s largest shopping centre gave out prizes in a total of fifteen categories, with the top prize of ‘Retailer of the Year’ award going to Primark, and ASDA achieving the runner-up position in the category. 

Other trophy winners included the recently opened Virgin Holidays store for ‘Specialist retailer of the year’, River Island was awarded ‘Store Development of the year’, and Wolverhampton-based Little Dessert Shop picked up ‘Small and Independent retailer of the year’. Ashley, who won Britains Got Talent with the dance troupe 'Diversity' in 2009, said:

“It was an absolute pleasure to come and present the intu Merry Hill Retailer Awards 2017. Both Diversity and I started our dancing careers dancing in intu centres across the UK, so [they] have a special place in our hearts!

“Congratulations to all nominees, both highly commended and winners of the awards”.

Dan Murphy, general manager at intu Merry Hill, added:

“We wanted to recognise our retailers and their hardworking staff for the fantastic work they do. The success of intu Merry Hill is down to the quality and passion of our retailers and the complete shopping experience they offer our visitors.

“The best judges are our shoppers, and over 6,000 of them voted to recognise and reward their favourite retailers here at intu Merry Hill”.

intu Merry Hill has over 1.4 million square feet of retail space across two levels with over 10,000 free parking spaces and enjoys over 21 million visitors each year.

Ashley with 'Manager of the Year' winner, Kirsty Jones from Paperchase