Wave Community Bank, Taj By Nobi Hussain and the Ravilious Hotel are among 16 winners. The full list, the highly commended, and who stepped up from 2025.
Wave Community Bank, Taj By Nobi Hussain, the Ravilious Hotel and Zoonou are among the 16 winners of the Eastbourne Business Awards 2026. The prizes were presented at the Winter Garden on Friday night, and the organisers have now published the winners and highly commended businesses on the awards website. (Eastbourne Business Awards, winners announced)
The awards are run by the Eastbourne unLtd Chamber of Commerce. In August the shortlist named 88 businesses across the categories, which we set out in full.
Two prizes were kept secret until the night: the Lifetime Achievement Award and Overall Business of the Year. Neither winner was listed on the awards site on Saturday morning. We will add both when the organisers publish them.
The winners and highly commended
| Award | Winner | Highly commended |
|---|---|---|
| Community Business | Wave Community Bank | Danni Drew |
| Health and Wellbeing | Home Instead Eastbourne and Hailsham | None named |
| Small Business (1 to 9 employees) | Dynamic Beauty Salon | Sussex Footcare |
| SME Business (10 to 49 employees) | Trinity Homes (UK) Ltd | Cobie Vetcare |
| Large Business (50 or more employees) | Beechwood Grove Care Home (Oakland Care) | Mortain Place Care Home |
| Young Achiever and Apprentice | Rebecca Stevens and Maya Belle, Eastbourne College | Jake Purcell, Metro Bank |
| Professional Service | James Thompson Architecture | The Accountant's Best Friend Ltd |
| Sustainable and Green Business | M S Steelwork Ltd | Corin Dudley Electrical Services Ltd (CDS Electrical) |
| New Business and Start-up | Eastbourne Coaches | None named |
| Food and Drink | Taj By Nobi Hussain | Fig. Restaurant at the Tennis Cafe |
| Tourism and Accommodation | Ravilious Hotel | The Sheldon Hotel |
| Customer Service Excellence | Beatty Dental Limited | None named |
| Creative Excellence | Printers Playhouse | Media Attention |
| Digital Excellence | Fountain Digital Ltd | None named |
| Family Business | Corin Dudley Electrical Services Ltd | None named |
| Employer of the Year | Zoonou Limited | HR Dept Sussex-by-the-Sea |
| Lifetime Achievement | Not yet published | |
| Overall Business of the Year | Not yet published |
Source: Eastbourne Business Awards, read on 17 October 2026. The awards site spells the hotel “Ravillious” this year and “Ravilious” last year. We have used Ravilious, the spelling of the artist Eric Ravilious.
Who stepped up, and who won again
We compared this year’s list with the 2025 winners, which the organisers also publish. A few names stand out:
- Fountain Digital won Digital Excellence for the second year running.
- The Ravilious Hotel was highly commended for Tourism and Accommodation in 2025. This year it won the category.
- Printers Playhouse was highly commended for Creative Excellence in 2025. It won this year. Last year’s winner was the Devonshire Collective.
- The Accountant’s Best Friend was highly commended for Professional Service in both years.
- Corin Dudley Electrical Services won Family Business and was highly commended for Sustainable and Green Business. It is the only name to appear twice in this year’s results.
Last year’s Overall Business of the Year was Zebedees Ltd, which also won the Large Business Award. The 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award went to Luca Albertoli of Pomodorro E Mozzarella.
The shortlist favourites
Sussex Footcare and Experience It Now Travel were each shortlisted in five categories in August, more than any other business. Sussex Footcare comes away highly commended in the Small Business Award.
A note on geography
The awards cover Eastbourne and the surrounding area, not just the borough. The shortlist included businesses from Polegate, Hailsham, Cooden Beach and Alfriston, which are in Wealden and Rother districts. Home Instead, the Health and Wellbeing winner, names Hailsham alongside Eastbourne in its title.
What it means for you
For anyone looking for a local business, this is a list of firms that other local people nominated and a judging panel then picked out. It covers a dentist, a care home, a beauty salon, an architect, a coach firm, a restaurant, a hotel and an electrician. Most of them are in our Eastbourne business directory.
If your business wants to enter next year, the winners going back to 2022 are on the awards site. They are the best guide to what this panel rewards. The awards are run by Eastbourne unLtd, the town’s Chamber of Commerce.
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