A Harlow-based lighting company was honoured to welcome His Royal Highness the Duke of Kent and HM Lord-Lieutenant of Essex to their head office based on River Way, for the official presentation of the company’s Queen’s Award for Enterprise.

Astro Lighting, a designer and producer of high end lighting, was founded by John Fearon and James Bassant in 1997 and has continued to achieve an exceptional growth of 20% year on year thanks to the firm’s insistence on only the highest standards of quality.

This is the second time the River Way-based company have won the Queen’s Award, which is widely considered the highest official accolade for any UK business and is fantastic recognition of Astro Lighting’s commitment to international trade and continual growth.

Mr Fearon and Mr Bassant warmly welcomed the Duke to Astro HQ and invited him on a tour of Astro’s main office and 8,000 m2 warehouse to give an insight into the full operation of the business.

“We were honoured to welcome HRH Duke of Kent and the Lord-Lieutenant of Essex to The Astro Building to present our second Queen’s Award for International Trade. This award is worthy recognition of the unwavering hard work and spirit of the Astro team.” – John Fearon and James Bassant, Co-Founders