Hobbs House Bakery has been named the winner of Tetbury Music Festival’s Best Dressed Window Competition 2026 after retail expert Mary Portas selected its display of individually named “rolling scones”.
Portas visited Tetbury on Thursday, September 24, walking along the high street and viewing the windows of more than two dozen participating businesses before announcing the result. The competition forms part of the festival’s effort to bring visitors into the town, promote its music programme and raise additional money for St Mary’s Primary School’s music provision.
‘Wonderful and hilarious’ winning display
The winning Hobbs House Bakery window featured scones, each carrying its own name label. The Tetbury Pet Shop took the silver award, while Break Charity was awarded 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.”
Windows remain on display through October 4
The displays will stay in place until Sunday, October 4. Businesses taking part 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.
This is the third year of the window competition. Previous judges were 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 wrote the government-commissioned Portas Review on the future of the high street, judged this year’s entries.
Tetbury Music Festival programme
The 2026 festival opened 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 are scheduled to perform Beethoven’s Sonatas 3, 2 and the Kreutzer on gut strings and fortepiano. The performance is preceded that afternoon by Michele Pasotti in conversation with Donald Macleod.
Italian ensemble La Fonte Musica returns on October 2 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 festival’s 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 programme 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.
