AN ENVIRONMENTALLY friendly Hampshire firm has been given a boost by the backing of former Dragons’ Den star Theo Paphitis.

Sofpave has received extra orders and seen its Twitter follower count shoot up by more than 200 after the TV star, pictured, tweeted about the business, which specialises in environmentally friendly building and landscaping products.

Owner Wayne Snelgrove wrote a message to Paphitis during ‘small business Sunday’, an weekly initiative to promote smaller companies.

Mr Snelgrove said: “Since our Local Business Accelerator Award we have worked hard to build our brand as a market leader in the supply of sustainable and recycled landscaping products, so we are absolutely delighted to have been recognised by Theo and it is great to have his support.

“Having Theo tweet us to his huge following of users has had a major and immediate impact, with our followers increasing overnight, but more important we have see our product enquiries and order take a steep increase, all thanks to Theo spreading the word about what we do to his followers.”

The Eastleigh-based company sells products manufactured from recycling plastics or SBR rubber including ground reinforcement, decking, fencing, block paving, planting beds and outdoor furniture.