A WOMAN who runs an ice cream business with her mother in Bognor Regis has been hailed a ‘rising star’ as the pair prepare to open their first parlour.

Georgia Alston, 26, scooped the national ‘Guido Morelli Rising Star’ award from the Ice Cream Alliance, the trade body for the UK’s £1bn ice cream industry.

Her mother Katy started Pinks Vintage Ice Cream Vans and Tricycles, 17 years ago.

Georgia joined ten years later, initially helping out in the summer holidays at the end of her first year at university, after her mum had broken her leg.

“I fell in love with it,” she said, and so, after writing a 24-page business plan explaining how she felt the firm could be grown, she decided to leave university to join her mother in running the firm.

She said the business had since grown from one ice cream van to two vans and a retro tricycle, which they now take to 250 weddings each year across southern England, along with parties and corporate events - including parties held by celebrities such as Kate Winslet and Keith Richards.

Now, after years of preparation and research, she said she and her mother were planning to open their first ice cream parlour in Waterloo Square, just off the seafront, where they would also make their own ice cream for the first time.

“We are hoping to open by April,” she said.

“The parlour will probably employ another six or seven people.

“It will be very transparent.

“You will be able to see the amazing product being made. We want to deliver the same high-end product and level of service as we do with the vans and the tricycle.”