IT'S the award every business in the city wants to win.

The title of Glasgow's Favourite Business, part of Glasgow Chamber of Commerce's Glasgow Business Awards, has had many distinguished winners over the years.

Now, on October 1, it will be going to one of six companies we'll be featuring on these pages this week.

Today, tomorrow and Thursday, we'll be profiling two of the nominees each day. And, once all six have been featured, we'll let you know how you can vote.

"WE'RE so excited to have been nominated for this award," says Oliver Jackson, one of the three partners at the Pets 'n' Vets Family.

"Every person in the practice is excited. We are such a Glasgow company, through and through. It's a fantastic honour."

The Pets‘n’Vets Family of Practices is a small partnership of local vets with surgeries in Glasgow, Blantyre and East Kilbride.

It now has eight practices and in October it will open a super-practice in Pollokshaws - a choice of location that brings the Pets 'n' Vets story round full circle.

The company was launched by a well-known local vet, George Leslie, in May 1971.

He gradually expanded the business but it wasn’t until 1987 that he took on a partner - Ivor Lough, his former student.

George retired five years ago to focus on his political career within the SNP, and Ivor was joined by two other partners - Oliver, and Ross Allan.

Both had been mentored by the practice when they were in their early teens.

"It's interesting, because all three of us grew up within walking distance of the Pollokshaws practice," says Oliver. "We each started off as school students, scrubbing the kennels.

"The three partners all started at the bottom of the ladder and worked their way up. It's a great, old-fashioned way of doing it."

Oliver added: "There has been a lot of change in the veterinary industry in general. It was deregulated, in the same way as opticians were deregulated, 15 years ago.

"We really like the traditional Glasgow veterinary practice style - we strive to make things very fair for our clients and I like to think we understand them quite well.

"It's also worth pointing out that Ross is an unbelievably talented vet.

"Last year he was awarded his certificate in small-animal veterinary surgery. He is very interested in advanced veterinary techniques. He's our clinical partner and he really pushes us forward and makes sure we are at the cutting-edge of what is possible.

"We're opening this new super-hospital in October, and that is going to provide Glasgow with a first-class service,

"It means we'll be able to carry out some of the most complex modern procedures."

Oliver adds: "Our original place in Pollokshaws has been around for a while. It may be a humble, red-sandstone tenement building but it is mentioned in a number of international veterinary journals. It was where Ross pioneered a new operation relating to cats' knees, for example."

The new super-practice will supplement the work already being carried out by Pets 'n' Vets' eight practices.

"We really believe in having a vets' at the bottom of your street," says Oliver. "Each has its own individual character and shares our ethos of looking after your pet.”

** Website: www.petsnvets.org/

IT'S quite fitting that this contender for Glasgow's Favourite Business should have been a word-of-mouth success.

Its business, after all, is language. More specifically, the teaching of language.

Based in Partick's Keith Court, The Language Hub is a social-enterprise company that offers language classes for children and adults from various language backgrounds.

It teaches not just Spanish, Italian, German and French but also German bilingual, Italian bilingual, Turkish bilingual and Dutch bilingual. Classes are also available in Gaelic, Mandarin, Farsi, Hungarian and Catalan.

The woman behind The Language Hub is Michèle Gordon, its director, who has has a way with languages since a very young age.

"I grew up in Germany with my Scottish dad and my German mum,.and they raised all of their children to be bilingual," she says.

"I only ever speak German to my own kids. When I was on maternity leave with my second child lots of parents in playgrounds would approach me and say: 'It's fantastic that you can speak a different language with your child. I wish I could do that.'

"At some point, I wondered whether there might be something in that. I had a look around and realised there was no language provision for the under-threes in Glasgow, in particular

"Having two bilingual children, I had a personal interest in providing them with input from someone other than myself. Again, I found there was nothing that provided a more structured support network."

Four years ago, Michèle launched The Language Hub to provide foreign-language learning and language support to children and adults.

This time last year, it moved into its new premises in Keith Court, where the facilities include an English and foreign language children’s bookshop, as well as a coffee corner. It also runs school holiday sessions and camps.

More than most, Michèle appreciates the advantages that come from being bilingual - among them, the ability to understand cultures other than our own. "Making a second language accessible to your child is a very special gift as it will always make your child an even stronger person," is how she puts it.

"We get a lot of word-of-mouth recommendations," she adds. "People come to us all the time and say we were recommended by someone they know, which is always nice to hear, because it means that our clients enjoyed what we are doing.

"We often hear from parents, who are interested that their child can now sing a song in French, or German, or whatever. We also get a lot of good feedback in our bilingual teaching - the parents can really see the immediate effect it has on their children,"

** Website: http://www.thelanguagehub.co.uk/