TWO brothers point to the growing demand for fashionable wooden floors as one of the reasons behind the success of their award- winning flooring business.

Durham lads Chris and Stuart Palmer set up Alpine Flooring Services in September 1998, and have many plans for the future.

The firm was set up with the help of Business Link County Durham, concentrating initially on carpet fitting.

Just seven months later they won a Shell Livewire business start-up award for young entrepreneurs, and took the best customer service award at the regional final.

The courses they have attended have enabled them to expand into supplying and fitting laminate wood flooring, ceramic tile floors, linoleum and the heavy duty contract vinyl used by shops, sports centres and hotels.

Stuart said: "It has been a great two years for us and we've got lots of plans for the future.

"Winning the award gave us a big boost and the national publicity helped us break into the retail sector, secure a major contract and begin working with two leading floor companies."