A POPULAR Luss business has won a top accolade at the Scottish Café Awards 2018.

The owner and staff at the Coach House Coffee Shop were delighted to be crowned the winners of the ‘best ambience’ title at the awards ceremony in Glasgow’s Crowne Plaza Hotel.

Rowena Ferguson, the café owner, told the Advertiser: “We were delighted to be awarded for best ambience because that’s not just about the café, it’s about how the coffee is served, it’s about the young serves wearing our tartan to the tables and about the beautiful setting of Luss, so that makes it extra special.”

She added: “We always welcome dogs and I think that’s another one of the key things that makes the ambience, because we just love the little darlings, and everyone is welcome.

“Cafés very often get missed out. There’s awards for best restaurant, best hotel and best chef, but lo and behold we won and we were delighted.”

The café opened 20 years ago and previously won national awards. However, for many of the current team, this marked their first time at an awards ceremony.

Rowena took four of the café managers along to the event – Glen Merryweather, Mari Wood, Mandy Ward and Isobel Watt.

“The staff were delighted,” she said. “The café has won a number of national awards, but this was the first time that group of people, other than myself, had been to an awards ceremony, so it was nice to win the award for that reason.

“It’s really busy at this time of the year, so it goes a long way to be recognised.

“The invitation said ‘very glam dress’, so we dressed up.

“I wore a corset with the Lomond District Tartan that I had made a few years ago, and Glen wore a kilt.

“We tried to bring a little bit of our ambience with us to make us definitely stand out.”

The recognition kept on coming for the staff as many customers congratulated them on social media.

Lindsay McDowall commented: “Aww, well done. Well deserved I would say. We certainly love it.”

And Loch Lomond and the Trossachs community partnership added: “Congratulations to Rowena and her team at Luss Coach House Coffee Shop! We always love your hospitality...and we always love your cakes.”

The prestigious awards ceremony saw the group walk away with a glass trophy commemorating their achievement.

“We got a lovely glass trophy award which is duly on display,” Rowena continued, “and we have put the photos on display on our Facebook page.”

The café, in the heart of the community, attracts a lot of local visitors looking for a dog friendly environment – but also from a lot of large groups stopping as they pass through the village.

“We have upped the number of staff because this is our busy period,” Rowena said.

“We are at our best when we are busy but that doesn’t mean we forget about our regular visitors when large groups come in.”