The Penrith branch of Cumbrian Properties has been named the British Property Awards gold winner for Penrith for 2017.

Organisers claim the awards to be the most inclusive estate agency awards and recognise high levels of customer service over a number of years.

A spokesman said the Penrith team had performed outstandingly throughout the extensive judging period, which focused on customer service levels.

Judging was carried out by a team of mystery shoppers and each estate agent was assessed against a set of 25 criteria to obtain a balanced overview of the customer service.

Cumbrian Properties has now been shortlisted for a number of national awards which will be announced later in the year.

Adrian Hogarth, company director, said he was delighted with the award which was a recognition of the hard work of his staff members in the Penrith area over many years.

He added: “It’s nice when customers give you praise but it’s nice when a professional institution gives recognition as well. I am very proud for the girls who work very hard.”

The team at Penrith is comprised of lettings manager Jessica Knight, lettings negotiator Jackie Poole, valuer Sarah Clifford, senior sales negotiator Karen McCarty, sales negotiator Stef Satterthwaite and viewer Trudie Doughty.

The British Property Awards aim to highlight and reward excellence within the UK residential property sector at a local level.

Robert McLean, from the British Property Awards, said: “Our awards have been specifically designed to be attainable to all agents, removing common barriers to entry, such as cost, to ensure that we have the most inclusive awards. Our awards have also been designed to remove any opportunity for bias or manipulation.

“If an agent has been recognised with one of our awards, it is simply down to the fantastic customer service levels that they have demonstrated across a prolonged period of time.

“Winning agents should be proud that their customer service levels provide a benchmark for their local, regional and national competition.”