Sweep of city centre venues receive gold Best Bar None accreditations
Around 70 city centre establishments have succeeded in gaining Best Bar None accreditation this year, with over 50 receiving the top gold award.
Best Bar None is a national initiative, supported by the Home Office, 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.
The results of this year’s scheme have now been announced with 69 venues being awarded the accreditation. This includes 54 receiving the top ranked gold status, including Rock City and The Hockely Arts Clue, an increase of six venues from last year’s scheme.
Fellow accreditations for 2017 included 14 of silver ranking and one bronze.
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 initiatives such as Pub Watch and 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 six different categories; Best Bar, Best Pub, Best Cocktail Bar, Best Club, Best Restaurant and Best Independent.
From the six category winners, the judges will also choose an overall Best Bar None winner.
The winners will be announced at a special circus-themed Best Bar None awards ceremony, taking place onTuesday September 12 at Pryzm, on Lower Parliament Street in Nottingham.
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.
