The Bridgnorth butcher's named one of Britain's most-loved businesses

ShopAppy.com ran a competition which saw 12,000 votes counted and hundreds of companies nominated.

RJ Arbuckle, based in High Street, Bridgnorth, was named in the top 20 alongside a host of businesses ranging from butchers, craft shops and children’s clothing boutiques to cafés, chocolate makers and greengrocers.

The butchers opened in August 2021 and spokeswoman Hannah Carter said: "It was a huge risk and undertaking for us at the time.

"We are a local family and we realise the importance of keeping our high street alive.

"We sincerely thank our customers for choosing to support local independent businesses like ours. We are very proud to have received this award in recognition of our hard work and we do appreciate our customer's loyalty."

Now in its fifth year, #LoveLocalDay, an initiative led by local shopping platform, ShopAppy.com, comes at a time when many small independent high street businesses are under immense pressure due to soaring inflation and energy bills, and reduced consumer spend.

Dr Jackie Mulligan, expert on the Government’s High Streets Task Force and founder of the local shopping platform, ShopAppy, said: “We had more votes than ever this year and it shows the love people have for their local high street businesses.

"On behalf of all the ShopAppy team, I’d like to say a huge well done not just to the winners but also to all those businesses who were nominated and the people who went out of their way to vote for them.

"During the past three years, small high street businesses have had to endure a pandemic and an unprecedented cost of living crisis so it’s more important than ever that we show our support for them and spend local.

"Our high streets are the heart of local communities and the small businesses that line them are not just places to buy things but meet others and chat. They are social not just transactional and that counts for so much for so many people.”