A Gloucestershire shopping arcade has been presented with a top award for its green credentials by TV impressionist Alistair McGowan.

The Regent Arcade shopping centre in Cheltenham beat off stiff competition from over 70 other entrants to win the Retail/Service Sector Recycler of the Year category in the 2017 MRW National Recycling Awards.

The centre sends none of its waste to landfill. It recycles all of its cardboard, dry mixed recycling, food and glass waste and has achieved an impressive 93 per cent recycling rate.

The award entry focussed on the work the Regent Arcade carried out last year in conjunction with its waste management supplier Go 4 Greener to engage with retailers and develop a shared commitment to recycling and minimising waste.

Delighted representatives from both organisations attended the awards ceremony at London's Hilton Hotel.

On presenting the award the judges said: "Managers at the Regent Arcade have moved the tenants with them to a zero waste ethos through training, engagement, equipment provision and performance feedback. This is a business evolving over time to produce a well thought through and managed result."

Regent Arcade centre manager Scott Lahive said: "This award is as much for our tenants as it is for the centre management. Our partner Go 4 Greener have been supporting, tenacious and unrelenting delivering impressive results, we would not have achieved it without them.

"We won it because we invested in people to create a cultural change and through greater understanding of the issues involved retailers have responded by getting fully on board with recycling.

"But we are not resting on our laurels. There's a lot more we can do and we will continue to work together to achieve even better results in 2018."

The Regent Arcade won the Green Apple Environment Award in 2013 for re-cycling and energy management making it the 'greenest' shopping centre in the UK that year.

Pictured: Regent Arcade centre manager Scott Lahive holding the trophy with operations manager Keith Willoughby (centre left), Go 4 Greener staff and TV impressionist Alistair McGowan