A total of 85 Nottingham city centre establishments have succeeded in gaining Best Bar None accreditation this year which is a record number, with 76 of these receiving the top gold award.
Best Bar None is a national initiative supported by the Home Office that is designed to promote the responsible and effective management and operation of licensed premises. In Nottingham city centre, the scheme has been run by the Nottingham Business Improvement District (BID) since 2010 and is once again being sponsored by specialist licensing law firm Poppleston Allen.
The assessment process for this year’s scheme has now been completed with 85 venues being awarded the accreditation – 16 more than last year. This includes 76 receiving the top ranked gold status – 22 more than last year and 9 receiving silver status based on their scores in assessments.
In order to achieve Best Bar None status, venues have to demonstrate they have policies and procedures in place to prove that they are safe, responsible and well operated and also comply with relevant legislation.
They are then assessed on areas such as the prevention of crime and disorder, measures they take to promote responsible drinking, their standards of safety and customer care, how they prevent and deal with public nuisance issues, the measures they have in place to protect children from harm and their approach to community engagement including membership of organisations such as Pub Watch and their support of charities.
The highest scoring premises will now go through to an independent judging round, which will be undertaken by industry experts. Those with the highest scores will be announced as the top venue in seven different categories – Best Bar, Best Pub, Best Cocktail Bar, Best Club, Best Restaurant, Best Entertainment Venue and Best Independent.
From the category winners, the judges will also choose an overall Best Bar None winner. The winners will be announced at a special event on Tuesday 11 September 2018 to which all accredited venues are invited.
All the venues that have been successful in gaining the accreditation will receive a certificate and window sticker that they can display to show that they are a Best Bar None accredited venue. They will also enjoy a number of benefits including increased footfall and turnover through the safe night time economy the scheme has created, stronger relationships with the police and local authorities and a reduction in the premiums for some insurance policies.
Andrew Crawford, a director of the Nottingham BID, said: “We are really pleased that more venues than ever in Nottingham city centre have been successful in gaining the Best Bar None accreditation. It’s good for the city, showing that the licensed venues take safety seriously. We look forward to announcing the winners at the Best Bar None awards ceremony in September.”
Lisa Sharkey, managing partner at leading licensing law firm, Poppleston Allen, comments: “Nottingham is a great city with lots of operators working hard to give visitors a fantastic experience. So I’m thrilled, but not surprised, that the Best Bar None scheme is showing record results for the city this year. I think that an increase of 22 operators being awarded the gold award is a reflection of how much effort goes into to making Nottingham’s food and drink offer one of the best in the country.”
