Bath-based online sex toy retailer Lovehoney has become possibly the most unusual winner of a Queen’s Award for Enterprise.
And in a twist on the traditional view that Brits are buttoned-up when it comes to bedroom antics – the firm collected its award for selling its sexual pleasure products overseas.
Lovehoney ventured into exporting in a serious way around three years ago by opening sites in the US and Australia. It has since spiced up the love lives of the French and Germans with country-specific sites. 
Its contribution to UK trade secured it the Queen’s Award for International Trade – announced last Thursday on Her Majesty’s 90th birthday but also exactly 14 years to the day from when co-founders Neal Slateford and Richard Longhurst started selling sex toys online from – appropriately – a bedroom.
Neal Slateford said: “It’s a huge privilege for Lovehoney to be honoured by the Queen. Official recognition from the Queen as she celebrates her 90th birthday shows just how far we have come as a company and how far sex toys have been embraced by mainstream shoppers.”
The firm now boasts a £60m turnover and employs more than 160 people at its Bath head office and warehouse. It can now use the Queen’s Award logo on its packaging for the next five years.
Apetito, the Trowbridge-based specialist food producer, won a Queen’s Award for Innovation for a second time.
The award recognises its work in developing ground-breaking texture-modified meals for people living with dysphagia – discomfort or difficulty swallowing.
The award cites the fact that “Apetito’s innovative texture modified range has had a ‘significant and positive’ impact on the wellbeing of its customers by helping to stimulate appetite and increase nutritional intake”.
It also praised the company’s track record of growth, success and commitment to its market.
The firm – which incorporates Wiltshire Farm Foods – won its first Queen’s Award for Innovation in 2005 for its development of the Chefmobil, which revolutionised the meals-on-wheels market by cooking meals while en route to customers rather than being prepared hours in advance in a central kitchen.
The awards are widely regarded as the UK’s most prestigious business accolades. Some 254 businesses were successful in applying for them this year.
