The Bury St Edmunds Canine Creche is among the latest businesses to be recognised under the Small Business Sunday initiative run by entrepreneur and former Dragons’ Den panel member Theo Paphitis.

Each Sunday, Mr Paphitis, whose own businesses include Ryman Stationery, invites small firms to send him a tweet and then selects six favourites to be retweeted to his 500,000 followers - frequently providing a major boost for their businesses.

Bury St Edmunds Canine Creche, which offers luxury day care for dogs, was launched eight months ago under the first franchise awarded by the Canine Creche Group, based near Ipswich.

Jon Kay, managing director of the Bury business, said: “To think of Theo even seeing my tweet is a great honour, but for him to also select it from the thousands of entries for SBS as one of the winners is mind-blowing and feels like a brilliant recognition for my young business as we continue to grow and will hopefully give us a great boost.”

Mr Kay caught the former Dragon’s eye with a video accompanying a tweet of just seven words: “Here at Creche, we make dogs happy”.

He said: “We are excited for the exposure this will bring to not only us, but Bury St Edmunds too. Our followers on Twitter have more than tripled overnight with loads of retweets and likes too.

“Myself and the team have worked hard to start this business and to make it a success in Bury so it feels like a nod to us doing something well.

“We continuously get excellent customer reviews so know we offer a wonderful service, but to have someone like Theo Paphitis single you out, it’s and amazing feeling.”

In a further boost for the business, it has just passed an environmental health review which will enable it to accept more dogs. “The timing couldn’t be better after our busiest week to date,” added Mr Kay.

Another recent Small Business Sunday winner is David Michael Photography from Feering, near Colchester.

Owner David Bradford said: “It is such an honour to receive the Theo Paphitis Small Business Sunday Award. I am always working on my brand, working to improve myself constantly and make sure that my clients are 100% satisfied with the finished photos.

“It is great to have support from Theo because he appreciates small businesses and has recognised my hard work and helped spread the word about what I do to his following.”