A Cornish shopkeeper has been awarded Franchise of the Year 2023, beating 70 other stores for the title.

Ian Gilbert, owner of Fonehouse Camborne and Fonehouse Helston, claimed the coveted prize among a national field of competitors.

Born and bred in Hayle, Mr Gilbert has been in the mobile phone industry for 21 years.

He said: "I certainly didn’t expect to win the top award but am delighted to have done so.

"Not just for me, but for my team and, of course, for Camborne and Helston.

"We’re the busiest we’ve been in ten years - we even have customers as far afield as Somerset.

"There are 70 Fonehouse stores nationwide, and Camborne is in the top six for quality and quantity of sales."

Mr Gilbert puts his longevity and recent award down to "always going the extra mile for customers."

He said: "Nothing is ever too much trouble in ensuring they get the service they need.

“We do home visits whenever necessary and have even climbed into lofts to get the best broadband signal.

“People trust us to always do our best for them, and trust is like gold dust.”

Mr Gilbert employs three people, including his son, Callum, who joined him in the business nine years ago as a technician. His wife Penny also has a role as company secretary.

In addition to managing the award-winning shops, Mr Gilbert acts as vice-chair for BID Camborne, giving local businesses a 'collective voice'.

He added: “BID does a very important job in giving local traders a collective voice.

"Recent Town Deal proposals to scrap our free 30-minute parking bays, for example, needed to be challenged as a lot of people use them to pop in and out of the town centre.

"Losing them risks significantly reducing footfall and BID is there to represent local views.”