EVENTS

The winners of this year’s Nottingham Best Bar None Awards were announced at a 1920s-themed black tie ceremony at Alea Casino on Tuesday night.

The awards are the local take on a UK-wide scheme which aims to make areas a safer place to visit at night by encouraging the managers and operators of pubs, bars and clubs to take as many steps as they can to ensure they provide a safe environment for their customers to enjoy.

Nottingham’s scheme presents a set of awards decided on by an independent panel of Licensing experts and another set decided on through a Public vote.

The big winners of the night, scooping the award for Best Small Pub and also the much coveted Overall Best Bar None Winner 2011 was The Peacock at Clifton, a pub that has been transformed under the careful management of Alice May.

The judges selected the venue as a “tough pub in a tough area that has really been turned around” and they felt that The Peacock “epitomised what Best Bar None is all about”.

Other judge’s choice winners included Rock City, Revolution Cornerhouse, Pit and Pendulum and Hooters.

The awards voted for by over 3,000 members of the public were for the customer experience that each accredited Pub, Club or Bar provides to its visitors. 

With votes submitted through the Best Bar None website, plus at events such as the Fresher’s Fairs and the Robin Hood Beer Festival; The Horn in Hand, Bodega Social Club, Rescue Rooms, Pit and Pendulum and Rock City were all singled out for the Diageo sponsored Best Customer Experience awards.

Sylvia Oates, Chief Executive of We Are Nottingham, organisers of the scheme in the city, said: “Best Bar None is a great way of getting the teams who manage the pubs, clubs and bars in the city thinking about how they can do their bit to ensure Nottingham is as safe as possible.

“I was delighted to learn from the Judges that, together with the dedication and hard work shown in previous years, there was a great deal of innovation brought into the scheme by those who were involved this year.”

“All of these efforts really shine through when you visit Nottingham at night as it feels like a safe, vibrant place to be – which is of course why we are the only city in the East Midlands to have been awarded a Purple Flag for our night time offer.”

Over 40 of Nottingham’s favourite nightspots brought their teams along to the awards to find out who had been crowned in the awards. 

A full list of Best Bar None accredited venues can be found online at www.nottinghambbn.co.uk.