Milton Keynes company that makes shoes for Strictly Come Dancing is presented with Queen's Award

International Dance Shoes Ltd, based in Stonebridge near Wolverton, has been designing and making shoes for ballroom and Latin American dancing for the past four decades.

The 30 employees make the shoes by hand to be shipped to dancers all over the world.

But the most famous customer is the popular BBC Strictly Come Dancing show, which returned to the screens last weekend.

Just before the TV launch the Vice Lord-Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire, Alexander Boswell, visited the factory to present them with the Queen’s Award for Enterprise.

Director Justin Patel said: "Back in April we were announced as Queen’s Award for Enterprise winners in the International Trade category and six months later we were finally able to receive our award. It’s our first time winning this and it’s certainly been something really positive in an otherwise pretty awful year."

The company was announced as award winners back in April, on the Queen's birthday. But at the time, they were in full lockdown, said Justin,

"There were just five us in the business working, keeping things ticking over, part way through a period which saw us not make a single pair of shoes for over two months.

"Whilst we’re absolutely delighted to win this award, we understand that it obviously comes at a difficult time with the world suffering amidst the coronavirus outbreak. We’d love nothing more than for this to be a normal day and to celebrate with our amazing team here at our factory, all of whom deserve this prestigious award for playing their part every day on our busy factory floor and in our offices."

A family business with a father and son partnership, the company has eight members of staff who have been with them for more than 20 years - two of them since day one.

"For now, we continue to focus on working our way through the coronavirus outbreak and preparing our business for what could be a slightly different world when we come through the other side," said Justin.

"Thankfully this won’t last forever, and we look forward to you all getting back to your dancing, so we can get back to working hard on designing, innovating, developing and manufacturing the shoes that we hope makes your dancing an even more pleasurable experience."

The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise are widely regarded as the highest accolade in British business. They are awarded to businesses for outstanding achievement, and the International Dance Shoes award was in the International Trade category for exceptional overseas sales growth.

The company exports to over 60 countries, with the USA, Germany, Italy, Ukraine, Australia, Japan and China among the most common destinations for its shoes.

Strictly Come Dancing aired at the weekend with a launch show. This will be followed by a nine-week run starting next Saturday and culminating in the final on December 19.