A rapidly expanding firm of solicitors is celebrating after winning the a hotly contested business award.

Mayo Wynne Baxter, which has eight offices and employs more than 200 people across Sussex, picked up the coveted award for customer delight at the Gatwick Diamond Business Awards.

It follows the latest opening for the company at The Beehive, near Gatwick, earlier this year.

The winners were announced in front of an audience of more than 600 of top business people in the Gatwick Diamond, hosted by Hugh Dennis and held at the Effingham Park Hotel.

Other winners included the University of Brighton’s events arm Southcoast Conferences, which won best place to meet, Keith Pordum of Bon Appetit, who won businessperson of the year and Carpenter Box, which won professional services firm of the year.

Chris Randall, chief executive of Mayo Wynne Baxter, said: “When we submitted an entry for this award, we knew it was the most hotly contested.

“For us, providing exceptional service to our clients is at the heart of what we do, and this recognition of our achievement in this area gives us a real sense of pride and accomplishment.

“We won because of the passionate commitment of our staff to deliver the very best service to our clients, and the very positive feedback we receive as a result.”

Carpenter Box director Chris Coopey said: “We are delighted to win this very prestigious award, which is very much a recognition of the excellent and expert service our team of around 120 accountants, auditors and tax advisers delivers to our clients.

“This has come just as we are about to open larger offices in Crawley which will see us offering our award winning service to even more clients in the surrounding area.”

The winners of the Gatwick Diamond Business Awards were announced in front of an audience of more than 600 of top business people.

The Awards Dinner was the culmination of hundreds of hours of hard work by the sponsors, judges, organisers and the entrants themselves.

Other winners include B&CE, ILG, Acro Aircraft Seating, Virgin Holidays, Avtura, RocketMill, 1st CENTRAL, Sony DADC UK, Varian Medical Systems, Target in 1.

The awards were organised by Jeremy Tayler of Gatwick Diamond Business.