Even in this age of Amazon and eBay, buying a camera from a specialist photographic retailer still pays dividends and those retailers who go the extra mile deserve our praise and recognition.

It’s a double win for Grays of Westminster at the 2025 AP Awards. The retailer bags the Platinum Good Service Award, as voted for by AP readers, while founder Gray Levett also receives our Chris Cheesman Memorial Award. This very special award was created in memory of highly respected AP News Editor, Chris Cheesman, who passed away in 2016. The award is given to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the UK photo industry.

Grays of Westminster, Gray Levett at Leslie Millers
Gray working at Leslie Miller Photographic, which gave him a good grounding in retail

Inspired as a teenager by the iconic 1966 movie Blow-Up (which also sparked a passion for music), Gray’s first job in the photographic industry was working in a traditional, old-fashioned camera shop in Bournemouth. Here he was imbued with the values of courteous professionalism, values which Grays of Westminster embodies to this day. 

A talented photographer himself, Gray immersed himself in the music industry during the 1970s, shooting iconic artists such as Fleetwood Mac and Rod Stewart. During his 20s, Gray moved to Los Angeles, working as a photographer and writer, specialising in the worlds of sci-fi and of course music. 

AP Good Service Awards 2025, Greys of Westminster
Gray and Michael Putland – they became good friends.

After returning to the UK, Gray began trading in a tiny basement room in his sister’s flat in Pimlico. He had no money, no cameras and used an old door as a desk. Gray scraped together £100 and placed ads in the classified section of AP. Gradually he built up a core clientele, but it became clear he needed to open a shop. So in 1985, Grays of Westminster was established in a former barbershop in Pimlico which, Gray later discovered, used to house the photo studio of legendary rock photographer Michael Putland. 

Greys of Westminster shop interior
The store, with a décor more akin to an exclusive club in Pall Mall than a shop, has a great customer service ethos

Initially Grays of Westminster sold every camera brand but decided in 1992 to become the world’s first ‘exclusively Nikon’ outlet, with customer service at its heart. 

Celebrity clients

Since its inception Grays of Westminster has been involved in finding specialist, or difficult-to- source, equipment for filmmakers in the USA and the UK. Indeed, Gray has supplied kit to such big names as Stanley Kubrick, Tim Burton, Wes Anderson and Aardman Animations (of Wallace and Gromit fame). 

The Greys of Westminster shop in Pimlico, Central London.

All this hard work has paid off, and Grays of Westminster has received numerous honours. In 2014 it became the first camera shop in the world to be granted its own Coat of Arms by Her Majesty’s College of Arms. And during Nikon’s centenary in 2018, Gray was presented with a Swarovski Crystal camera by the President of Nikon Corporation, Japan, Kazuo Ushida. Here’s to many more years of successful trading. www.graysofwestminster.co.uk

Grey Levett at the 2025 AP Awards, with his Chris Cheeseman Memorial Award
Gray with his AP Chris Cheesman Memorial Award

Good Service Awards: Gold winners

Our expanded Good Service Awards celebrate those photo businesses that go the extra mile for their customers and now include service-based businesses as well as retailers. The business with the most votes wins a Platinum award but we have added a Gold award for second place. 

Congratulations to the Good Service Awards winners:

Have a look at other winners of the AP Awards 2025:

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