THE founders of Spark:York have been named young entrepreneurs of the year.

Tom McKenzie and Sam Leach, both 25, took home the gong in the Citi Microentrepreneurship Awards at a ceremony in Liverpool.

Tom and Sam launched Spark:York in May last year having been inspired by the box parks, community and street food markets they saw when travelling around Europe.

With about 500,000 visitors in its first 10 months - and a £1.8million turnover - Spark:York is a hub for food, arts, events, music and culture and a platform for, start-up businesses and social enterprises.

Tom and Sam were up against a strong field of entrants from all over the UK - they will take home a £7,500 cash prize for the business.

The awards, funded by the Citi Foundation, are a celebration of Britain’s microentrepreneurs that have accessed “responsible” business finance – Tom and Sam took a £190k loan and business mentoring support from the Business Enterprise Fund to help make Spark:York happen.

In a statement, Tom and Sam said: “We are absolutely delighted to have won this prestigious award.

"The award recognises the importance of micro entrepreneurship and younger people in supporting creativity, innovation and economic growth in our towns and cities.

"Spark was a vision to transform a derelict space in the centre of York by putting dynamic and visionary local people at its helm. We believe here in York, that younger people are aspirational and proud of their city, but believe that York can be a more modern, progressive and socially-driven place.

"As young entrepreneurs who started with a dream of this project, we are hugely grateful to the support of those in responsible finance, such as BEF, who believed in us and gave us every element of support to help us realise this project. We hope winning this award inspires other young entrepreneurs to be bold, principled and go about unlocking a more positive future.”

Sam and Tom are not resting on their laurels: this spring, SPARK will open a collaborative workspace to support young, aspiring entrepreneurs with the University of York.