Husband and wife team Rachael Hockmeyer and Christian Slingby scooped the title of best Spar store at this year’s Spar Retail Show.

Since taking over Spar Sleaford in Lincolnshire six years ago, they have expanded the shop from 997sq ft to 2,100sq ft, added Spar’s Daily Deli food-to-go offer and invested in increasing their chilled range.

“It’s right at the heart of its local community,” said Neil Mercer, sales director at Blakemore Trade Partners. “They give a huge amount of raffle prizes and donations to numerous local organisations throughout the year.”

The store also provides space for diabetic screening and mobile chemotherapy units, and was instrumental in setting up Shock Sleaford to cover the whole of Sleaford with defibrillators.