A BUSINESSMAN who has built up a 180-outlet business in just ten years has been rewarded for his entrepreneurship.

David Charlton, chairman of The Officers Club chain of budget mens' clothing shops, clinched the consumer services entrepreneur title in the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, for the North of England.

His company, which started in Sunderland but is now based in Cramlington, has become the country's largest "value" menswear chain.

Its rapid growth has been the result of carefully-targeted shop acquisitions and clear market focus, taking it from a single small shop in Newcastle to a huge chain with a turnover of £81m.

The chain now gets its own lines produced in countries such as China, India, Portugal and Vietnam, where labour costs are cheap, and is opening stores in Northern Ireland under the name Petroleum.

Chey Garland, chief executive of the Hartlepool-based Garlands Call Centres, won the business services entrepreneur of the year award.

She founded a credit collection agency business in the town at just 23 in 1980. That became two multi-media call centres employing 1,300 staff working for blue-chip firms including Vodaphone, Powergen and Egg. Turnover more than doubled last year to £12.5m.

The Northern winners were selected from 38 finalists and go through to a national final in October, from which the overall UK Entrepreneur of the Year will go forward to the world final next year.