West Norfolk Mayor’s Business Awards 2024: Tim Gibb of Outwell's Crown Lodge Hotel receives Businessperson of the Year award

The managing director of a hotel, restaurant and conference venue in Outwell who was crowned Businessperson of the Year has dedicated his win to his staff.

Tim Gibb, 41, was recognised for his work at The Crown Lodge Hotel at the Mayor’s Business Awards held at the Alive Corn Exchange in Lynn on Friday.

Speaking afterwards, Tim said: “I’m amazed, I’m bowled over. I didn't expect to win by any stretch really, I’m just blown away.”

He added: “I think it’s more about the recognition, without sounding stereotypical, but it’s all about the staff and the team.

“Everything that we’ve done since Covid, it’s been about driving the team culture.

“For us it’s about building and engaging with staff and making it a great environment for them and the success of the business then comes as a by-product, and that’s a really big success for us.

“So we’ve invested the time in the staff and watching them now really embrace the values and the core goals of the business, the success, the profits and the customer success just kind of happens without really thinking about it and that’s the real win for us.”

As for what’s next for him and The Crown Lodge Hotel, Tim said there are some exciting plans in the near future.

“I think as we grow as a business we’re really focused on building the team, we’re looking to expand and we want to have multi-sites,” he said.

“We’re looking to be three hotels by the end of 2026 and the plan for that is to recruit from within, internal growth, apprenticeship schemes and again, it’s about the culture, the team and the driving force behind the team. So we’re really looking forward to it.”

Judges said the award was set to be given to an individual who had made an “outstanding personal contribution to drive their business forward over the past 12 months, demonstrating achievement and inspiration to others around them”.

The Businessperson of the Year award – whose finalists also included Jane Cole of Pole Perfect Fitness and Michael Stollery of Mickram Limited – was sponsored by Brown and Co.

Brown and Co’s associate partner John Weston said the awards had “once again produced a very diverse and high standard of entries, making the selection of the three finalists difficult”, with “separating those three finalists more difficult still”.

“Comparison of very different business types is never easy and we were impressed by the depth of expertise and foresight exhibited in each of their specialist sectors,” he added.

“Each business person has shown immense dedication and application in building up their business to the standard it is today.”