Hobbs House Bakery has been crowned winner of Tetbury Music Festival’s Best Dressed Window Competition 2026 – with the winning display earning the seal of approval from retail expert, broadcaster and author Mary Portas.
Mary Portas visited Tetbury on Thursday, September 24, walking the town’s high street and viewing the windows of more than two dozen participating businesses before announcing her winner.
Hobbs House Bakery’s display featured ‘the rolling scones’, with each scone given its own little name label.
The Tetbury Pet Shop was awarded silver, while Break Charity took bronze.
Mary Portas said:
“When you see a community coming together creatively around the arts and commerce, something quite magical happens. I have been up and down Tetbury high street today, and it was such a joy to see how many of the shops had taken part.
Some windows are easier to work with than others, and I salute all of them, particularly the many volunteers who gave their time. Whether it’s an optician’s, a wine shop, a jeweller’s, a pet shop, a gift shop or a beautiful florist, all of them pushed the boat out. Some were quite magical.
The winner, however, had to be Hobbs House Bakery for the rolling scones. It was wonderful and hilarious, and it elevated an everyday product. Go and have a look!”
Tetbury Music Festival Director Caz Weller Knight said:
“It was a wonderful afternoon, to see the beautiful musical window displays in the company of such a retail expert, and to hear her insightful comments about creativity, community and collaboration.”
The windows will remain on display until Sunday, October 4, with the initiative designed to encourage more visitors into Tetbury, showcase the Festival’s musical programme and raise additional funds for St Mary’s Primary School in Tetbury to support its music programme.
Participating businesses include Armadillo, Artique, Chome Fine Art, Cotswold Cat and Dog Home, Daniel Bristow Violins, French Grey, Tenovus Cancer Care, The Tetbury Pet Shop, The Yellow-Lighted Book Shop, Hobbs House Bakery, Constantine Rex, Trove, Break, Haine & Smith, Scentiments, Skeins of Tetbury, Tetbury Wines, Matthews Independent Funeral Directors, Taylor Black and Longfield.
Now in its third year, the competition was previously judged by interior designer and television personality Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen in 2024 and fashion accessories designer Lulu Guinness OBE in 2025.
Portas, who presented Mary Queen of Shops and authored the government-commissioned Portas Review into the future of the high street, brought her retail expertise to this year’s judging.
The 2026 Tetbury Music Festival opens on Saturday, September 26, at Tetbury Goods Shed Arts Centre with Ensemble Oblique’s staged production of Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale, performed twice in one evening.
On October 1, violinist Viktoria Mullova and Alasdair Beatson perform Beethoven’s Sonatas 3, 2 and the Kreutzer on gut strings and fortepiano, preceded that afternoon by Michele Pasotti in conversation with Donald Macleod.
On October 2, Italian ensemble La Fonte Musica returns with La Sera del Combattimento, Pasotti’s reconstruction of the first performance of Monteverdi’s Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda, given in Venice in 1624.
The central Saturday features Sir Nicholas Kenyon’s talk, Elgar and the Spirit of England, followed by the Eusebius Quartet performing works by Schubert, Elgar, Bridge and Fauré.
The Festival closes on October 4 with a Festival Eucharist sung by Gloucester Cathedral’s Saint Cecelia Singers, followed by The Gesualdo Six’s Tetbury debut with Lux Aeterna.
