A RESTAURANT at Poole Quay has been left shocked after it has been nominated for best tourism business of the year.

Owners of Oriel on the Quay, Ryan and Katie Porter, have shared that they have been nominated for best tourism business of the year for the Bournemouth, Christchurch, and Poole Tourism Awards.

Excited by the news, the restaurant has had little time to celebrate according to Ryan after a great summer of business. 

He said: "We first heard we had been nominated about a month and a half ago and it's been a bit of a whirlwind since I'll be honest. 

"It's been an exceptional summer. We're progressing a lot generally and I think we're on quite a steep incline for business in terms of what we're pulling together or where we're moving to."

Working as a pot wash while Katie was in front-of-house as a waiter, the couple met each other at the restaurant in 2006.

They then both left Dorset and moved to London to work as accountants before they returned to the area when the Oriel came up for sale in 2018. 

Ryan said: "We both went off to be chartered accountants in London and then we saw it was for sale in 2018 and bought it and moved back down. We haven't looked back since. 

"It all coincided so well, we were going to move back down when we found out Katie was pregnant with our first child and when it came up, I thought 'I think that's the decision made'."

In their sixth year of business, Ryan believes despite setbacks on the Quay, such as BCP Council's decision to not fund as many events, the business has never been stronger.

Yet to hear if they have been shortlisted, the Oriel has thanked its staff and customers.

Ryan said: "The council cancelling all of the events was quite a big blow for us but we've all chipped in and funded various things, like fireworks, lights and all that stuff.

"It's been one of the best summers we've had in six years and I think partly that's because all the red tape has disappeared with us running the events rather than the council."