Newport based Story Inns Limited has been shortlisted for the 2017 NatWest Great British Entrepreneur Awards in the Small Business Entrepreneur of the Year award.

Story Inns Limited, which runs the Ridgeway Bar and Kitchen in the city, beat off some tough competition in order to make the regional shortlist, with over 1000 businesses entering the awards nationally across the wide range of categories.

Now in its fifth year, the NatWest Great British Entrepreneur Awards has celebrated some amazing entrepreneurs over the years, many of whom are now household names. Past winners include David Buttress of Just Eat, Julie Deane of The Cambridge Satchel Company, James Watt of BrewDog and Alexander Solomou of TheLADBible Group.

David Pell, of Story Inns Ltd, is a business information and management systems student who has entrepreneurship in his DNA.

Under David’s guidance the award-winning Ridgeway Bar and Kitchen enjoys national renown offering of British cuisine which relies heavily on finest locally-sourced Welsh produce. The same ethos has been applied to the successful new outside catering division, Story Fine Food, headed up by the same experienced team.

Francesca James, of the NatWest Great British Entrepreneur Awards, said: “We have been inundated with some incredible entries this year, and all shortlisted applicants should be extremely proud of themselves. This year has seen a record number of entrants and we’ve been absolutely blown away by the strength and diversity of applications.”

“We cannot wait to celebrate entrepreneurship across Great Britain with them, and put a spotlight on the incredible talent within the British entrepreneur ecosystem.”

Gordon Merrylees, head of entrepreneurship at NatWest said: "I want to thank all of the entrepreneurs who entered this year and congratulate those who have been shortlisted, I look forward to seeing them at the regional finals.

“It is clear that entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well and NatWest is thrilled to be able to support these awards to celebrate success with the businesses that are the lifeblood of the UK Economy as they start, scale and succeed.”

The awards will celebrate entrepreneurship across a number of categories at five finals across the UK, including Cardiff, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Manchester and London.