A POPULAR Turkish restaurant in Essex is celebrating after winning in the prestigious British Kebab Awards.

The winners were crowned at the 10th annual British Kebab Awards on Tuesday.

There were 8 regional awards up for grabs, recognising the best kebab restaurants across the UK.

Among these winners was Essex-based Sark Restaurant which won Best Kebab Restaurant Regional.

The Turkish and Mediterranean restaurant opened in Maldon High Street in 2017 and is run by owner Salman Barli and his family.

Sark announced it was on the shortlist of the prestigious national awards in February and encouraged customers to vote and help it win.

It proved popular and the winners from Essex were presented with their prestigious award by Maldon MP John Whittingdale.

READ MORE: Award-winning business named pub and guesthouse of the year

A spokesman for Sark thanked its supporters, saying: "Our success is down to our hard work and dedication, but it would not be possible without our great supporters who were with us during this journey to success.

"Thank you to everyone who voted for Sark."

Thousands of members of the public voted for the 180 finalists to face the judges.

The ceremony was held in the ballroom at the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge Hotel with an audience of more than 1,200 guests and 150 MPs and Lords.

Andrew Kenny, Managing Director of Just Eat UK, headline sponsor of the awards said: "It’s been an honour for Just Eat to support the British Kebab Awards for the past decade; the event is always a highlight of our year.

"After an undeniably difficult period for the hospitality sector, there’s never been a better time to recognise the resilient and hard-working individuals across the kebab industry, who are making an invaluable contribution to both their local community and the UK economy."

Ibrahim Dogus, founder of the Kebab Awards, said: "We had a fantastic array of nominees for the 10th British Kebab Awards from across the UK in all our categories.  Our judges have had a really hard time choosing the very best of the best."

He added: "As we recover from the pandemic and navigate life beyond Brexit, we need the kebab industry like never before.

"It’s vital that lawmakers and Government Ministers – listen to us and hear us when we say we need more support.

"We need the government to think again on the National Insurance rise, to look again at business rates and increase in VAT."

For the full list of this year's winners, visit britishkebabawards.co.uk/2022-winners.