After 25 years the Gloucestershire Live Business Awards has called time.

In October 2023, in a 25th anniversary event, local businesses marked the winners of the Gloucestershire Business Awards. The Awards were originally launched by the publishers of the Citizen and Echo, now Reach plc, in 1998.

Reach plc has recently released the following statement: "Due to the economic headwinds that we all face, a significant increase in costs to host events, as well as budgets being challenged, we have decided to stop producing all regional and national events apart from the Pride of Britain and the Pride of Scotland in 2024."

For the past 12 years, Randall & Payne has been the headline sponsor of the county awards where six months of local activity concluded in the glitzy awards evening at The Racecourse.

Tim Watkins, managing partner at Randall & Payne, commented: "It feels like the end of an era. I have enjoyed judging the entries year after year and learning more about the wonderful businesses here in Gloucestershire. I occasionally learned about a hidden gem that I drove past regularly but never knew about. We thank Reach for putting on this spectacular event and are of course disappointed that it has come to an end. However, it's best to end on a high and go out with a bang! And the 25th awards evening was most definitely one to remember!"

Fiona Hughes, marketing manager added: "For us, it was much more than the awards evening. We looked forward to meeting everyone at our launch breakfast, finalists' celebration evening, the awards evening itself and our Winners' dinner each year. Over 142 awards have been given to businesses and business people since 2012."

Ian Mean, former editor-in-chief of Gloucestershire Media, said: "Over 25 years we built up the Gloucestershire Business Awards to be the largest newspaper awards in the UK.

"They were a great showcase for Gloucestershire's great companies and, sadly, they are ending. The pressures on local media are such that cuts for survival simply have to be made".

In 2014, Moose Marketing & PR won the CSR award. 

Mark Owen, agency owner and Punchline editor said: "Over the past 12 years or so I have been to every event where we celebrated the best in Gloucestershire. Still proud as punch our award takes pride of place on the office wall. I have noticed that as Reach's dominance has diminished in the region, sadly so has its reach within the business community."