Wellingborough takeaway is a winner at British Kebab Awards 2020

A Wellingborough takeaway is celebrating after being among the winners at the eighth annual British Kebab Awards.

Staff from Millenium Pizzas & Grill in Midland Road were delighted to win the Just Eat Best Delivery category.

This was one of 16 categories on the night, with others including Chef of the Year, Kebab Van of the Year and eight regional awards for recognising the best kebab restaurants across the UK.

Owner and founder of Millenium Pizzas & Grill Maksut Demir said: "It was a great night and it's a great feeling to win."

He said he was very proud of the award, especially after being in the industry for more than 30 years and running the Wellingborough takeaway for more than 20 years.

And a post on the takeaway's Facebook page says: "We would like to thank all our customers who voted for us.

"Thank you Wellingborough."

The awards bash took place at the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge Hotel this week with an audience of more than 1,200 guests, including Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan and Radio 1 DJs Scott Mills and Chris Stark.

Thousands of members of the public voted for the 150 finalists to face the judges, who included the Labour MP Carolyn Harris, Conservative MP David Warburton, British journalist Ash Sarkar, and Cobra Beer sales director Samson Sohail.

Andrew Kenny, UK managing director of awards headline sponsor Just Eat, said: “It’s a great honour to have once again sponsored the British Kebab Awards.

"These awards quite rightly shine the spotlight on the thousands of independent Turkish, Kurdish and Kebab restaurants that are making an invaluable contribution to both their local communities and the UK economy.

"Congratulations again to all finalists and winners of this year, it’s truly a huge achievement.”

Ibrahim Dogus, Lambeth-based restaurateur and founder of the Kebab Award,s said: “The kebab is an unsung cornerstone of high streets across the country, and the simply superb quality of this year’s entries shows that British small businesses can more than compete on a world stage of cuisine.

"What is also just as important is that we must not let Brexit hinder the UK’s flourishing restaurant and takeaway industries, which employ so many people often from migrant backgrounds.”

The British Kebab Awards is the only one of its kind to recognise the British kebab industry, which supports 200,000 jobs across restaurants, suppliers and the food industry.

Every day, more than 1.3 million kebabs are sold across Britain.