TYCOONS of tomorrow took over part of the Chequers Shopping Centre, Maidstone, to show off their business ideas.

The Young Enterprise Christmas Fair is held annually to showcase the talents of young people who form a company, design a product, and then sell it.

The event is run by the Mid Kent Board of the Young Enterprise charity, which encourages pupils to learn about business first-hand -- by setting up their own.

This year, eight teams from five Maidstone schools -- the Cornwallis School, Linton, Invicta Grammar School, Huntsman Lane, the St Simon Stock School, Oakwood Park, the Maplesden Noakes School, Great Buckland, and Maidstone Grammar School for Girls, in Buckland Road, took part.

The Mayor of Maidstone, Cllr Morel D'Souza, also turned up to admire the youngsters' creativity.

Mike Subert, Mid Kent Young Enterprise board member, said: "We award a prize for the best presented stall every year. The winning team must show their name on the stall, package their product nicely and have a good personal approach."

The winner of the best presented stall this year went to Scribble, a T-shirt designing company made up of students from Maidstone Grammar School for Girls.