AN Irvine-based hair salon has bagged a top award in a prestigious competition.

Halo Hair Design was crowned the best business in Irvine at the Ayrshire Retail Awards on Sunday - much to the surprise of its two owners.

Sarah-Jane Curran, 38, and business partner Pamela Carter, 39, only opened the salon last August.

Sarah-Jane said: “Well the whole thing has been a bit of a shock, but Pamela and I are delighted.

“We assumed we were nominated by one of our clients, we then had to go through a salon visit and some mystery shoppers.

“I’ve worked with Pamela for 15 years and we decided to open the studio in Caledonian House in August 2016.

“We are completely shocked to have won, but we think it is such a great achievement to win against companies that have been going for years, and we’ve only been open less than a year.

“We are just a small salon, and it’s the way we want it to be.

“It’s all about the customer service to us, we want people to enjoy their time in the salon.”

It might be small, butthe books are always full as Sarah-Jane explains: “We are always busy and I think it is because of the attention we give to our clients.

“Some of our customers will book two or three appointments at once so they will get a slot.”

One happy client only had praise to give Sarah-Jane and Pamela.

Sandra Colquhoun said: “I have seen first hand the hard work and long hours these two ladies put into making a success of their business.”