AN attraction which specialises in giving guests a scare to remember will battle it out against the likes of Alton Towers after being nominated for four international awards.

Hide and Shriek, based in the Victoria Shopping Centre, Southend, has only been up and running for just over a year, but has already been recognised by Europe’s biggest trade show for the scare attraction industry – ScareCon’s SCAR awards.

The live action scare attraction, which was founded by Southend-born George Bejko-Cowlbeck, 26, and Scott Rose, 25, has been nominated for best original concept and design, best escape room, best out of season attraction and best attraction producer.

George said: “We never really thought we could compete with such big attractions so we were taken aback when we found out.

“For us, it’s all about the guests and if they have a good time that really gives us a kick so to have this level of recognition from the industry on top of that is just great.”

George and Scott decided to start the company after they realised they both shared a passion for themed attractions.

George added: “We both used to work for Adventure Island and had a shared interest in horror.

“In 2015, we approached the Victoria Shopping Centre to see whether they had a vacant lot that we could use to run a Scare Maze.

“The event was such a big success that they asked us to stay and we’ve been there ever since.”

The attraction has run several different themed events since its inception including Alien Escape, which is up for best escape room.

Alien Escape was the UK’s largest escape room at 11,000 sq ft and required teams to investigate the disappearance of a space crew.

The pair also ran a zombie survival experience called Dead Centre, which is up for best out of season attraction, which over the shopping centre at night.

George added: “We always like to use local actors and production teams to bring our concepts to life. There is such a great amount of talent here in Southend.”

The winners of the SCAR awards will be announced at Alton Towers on June 23.