From a nine-generation family farm to a challenger radio station, the Lloyds British Business Excellence Awards 2026 shortlist tells a unique story about Britain’s SMEs, and one of them will win £500,000 of ITV airtime.
At a time when small business confidence is under well-documented pressure, the Lloyds British Business Excellence Awards have announced the winners for 2026: almost 200 shortlisted businesses and business leaders from a record field of entries mostly from small and medium-sized firms, covering all 20 sectors and all corners of the UK economy.
The shortlist reads like a map of SME Britain. A ninth-generation family farm, Tulleys Farm, now welcomes nearly two million visitors a year. Boom Radio, an oppositional station built for the over 50s. A Leeds bearings exporter, a Kent swimming school, a Bristol sandwich centre, a stairlift installer, specialist food brands, family funeral directors, and fast names such as Pip&Nut and Octopus Electric Vehicles, alongside household names such as Fortnum & Mason and Kendamil.
Amanda Murphy, CEO, Lloyds Business and Commercial Banking, said: “Behind every successful business is a story of ambition, determination and innovation. Encouraging self-supporting entrepreneurs to succeed. That’s exactly what the Lloyds British Business Excellence Awards celebrate. Our finalists create jobs, bring new ideas to market, invest in their communities across the UK and help improve their communities across the UK. and we are very proud to support them.”
For one SME on the shortlist, the night will literally change. The new ITV Growth Accelerator Award, created with media partner ITV, has the largest and most commercially significant prize ever awarded by a UK business awards programme: £500,000 of ITV advertising on the ITV and ITVX broadcast channels, putting a small business in front of millions of viewers. All eleven shortlisted brands also receive an ITV Growth Package of subsidized airtime, direct training from the ITV SME incubator team and TV creative at a cost, national television coverage, long-term retention of advertisers with large budgets, where small firms are reached.
Sarah Austin, Founder of Empowered Events, owner and producer of the Awards, knows the SME journey first hand: she started the program from her kitchen table after being redundant in the FTSE events business while on maternity leave. He said: “Reading this list of winners is like reading the story of modern Britain. A zero-carbon housebuilder tackling the housing crisis. A ninth-generation family farm hosting two million visitors. A radio station in opposition, and innovators turning kitchen table ideas into international brands. They all supported themselves before anyone else did, and that’s the quality we celebrate above all other British small business stories. I know which one I believe.”
The winners will be announced at a ceremony at Grosvenor House, London, on Tuesday 10 November 2026, in front of 1,200 business leaders, with Lloyds Bank as title partner, ITV as media partner and UK government support. In keeping with the tradition of the Awards, the winners will ring the opening bell at the London Stock Exchange and be celebrated at the programme’s annual reception in the House of Commons.
Since its launch, the awards have raised over £100,000 for the charity.
View the complete list of winners.
