Inn Collection Group Named UK’s Best Pub Employer
Awards | Posted 2019.03.14
The Inn Collection Group has been named as the UK’s best pub employer. The north-east based leisure firm clinched the title Best Pub Employer – up to 500 employees – at The Publican Awards, the pub industry’s biggest awards event. Stay in a Pub are delighted to see one of its partners crowned for their hard work in the industry along with some of our other partners who were recognized at the awards. Fuller’s took home the awards for Best Accommodation Operator and Best Pub Operations Team, Cirrus Inns won Best Premium Food Offer, Butcombe won Best Food Offer and J.W Lees were crowned Best Brewing Pub Company.
The Inn Collection Group’s managing director Sean Donkin said: “Winning this award is the conclusion of a lot of hard work and is a testament to the efforts of the senior management team here at The Inn Collection Group. “Having invested in the team to enable their development and progression it is excellent to receive quality recognition from such a prestigious body against national competition which is something we have always viewed as being standard expectations. “It is great to see a North East based company leading the way on a national level.”
More than 1,400 people took a trip to London to celebrate some of the best operations in the pub industry at the Publican Awards 2019. The awards, organised by leading trade title the Morning Advertiser, has been running for 28 years, and recognises excellence across the sector. Comedian and chat show host Alan Carr mc’d the proceedings, which took place at Battersea Evolution in London, on March 12.
Ed Bedington, editor of The Morning Advertiser, which organises the awards, said: “This event is always a pleasure to host, and we’re delighted to be able to recognise some of the great businesses that work in our sector. “These awards are not easy to win, and simply getting to the finals is quite an achievement with a robust judging process which really puts our finalists and winners through their paces. “Judging these awards is a real privilege and it’s reassuring to see some of the great work that is going on in the industry, I’d like to congratulate all our finalists and winners.”
Headline sponsors Sky used the event to urge the industry to look to its environmental responsibilities by highlighting a range of issues it is focusing on within its business, including Sky Ocean Rescue. That focus on the environment and the good work the sector is doing also inspired a new award for this year’s competition, the Best Sustainable Pub Company, which was won by Darwin & Wallace who impressed the judges with its green credentials.
Meanwhile a range of sponsors and bar providers including ABInBev, Asahi, Britvic, Bacardi, Carlsberg UK, CGA, Coca-Cola European Partners, CPL Online, Fentimans, Food Spark, Freixenet, Fever Tree, Heineken, Kuehne and Nagel, Indie Brands, Molson Coors, Poppleston Allen, Southern Comfort, Tanqueray and Tia Maria all ensured the party carried on into the wee small hours with further entertainment provided by beat box experts Duke, the Rick Parfitt Junior Band and DJs provided by drinks brand WKD.
