Best Bar None

Birmingham City Council, in partnership with West Midlands Police and Fire Service, launched this year's Best Bar None competition on Tuesday 26th January 2010.

The Best Bar None scheme is a recognised scheme, supported by the Home Office, aimed at promoting reponsible management and operation of alcohol-licensed premises. The scheme encourages social responsibility among licensees by rewarding good management for discouraging binge-drinking and helping prevent alcohol related crime.

More than 100 premises licensed to sell alcohol took part in this year's award and the ceremony, sponsored by Bacardi Brown-Forman, was held at the International Convention Centre on Thursday, 16 September 2010.

A team of assessors from the council, West Midlands Fire Service and West Midlands Police spent months visiting each establishment that had entered to probe every aspect of how they are run and give them a score. Those with the highest scores were whittled down to a shortlist and a panel of judges selected the winners of the ten awards.

AND THE WINNERS ARE:

BEST INDEPENDENT BAR - The Loft Lounge, Southside.
BEST UNIVERSITY/STUDENT BAR - Joe's Bar, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston.
BEST HOTEL BAR - the Bar at Radisson Blu, Queensway. Also highly commended - B1 Bar, Crowne Plaza, Holliday Street.
PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARD (voted for by listeners of radio station BRMB) - The Red Lion, Kings Heath.
BEST SUBURBAN BAR - Bottle of Sack, Sutton Coldfield.
BEST CITY CENTRE BAR - Grosvenor Casino, Five Ways. Also highly commended - Walkabout, Broad Street.
BEST CITY CENTRE PUB - The Old Joint Stock, Temple Row. Also highly commended - The Shakespeare, Lower Temple Street and the Dragon Inn, Arcadian.
BEST SUBURBAN PUB - Arthur Robertson, Perry Barr. Also highly commended - Elizabeth of York, Moseley; Man on the Moon, Kings Norton; and the Red Lion, Kings Heath.
BEST NIGHTCLUB - Gatecrasher, Broad Street. Also highly commended - Risa, Broad Street and O2 Academy, Southside.
BEST BAR NONE - Gatecrasher, Broad Street.

As well as those who won the 10 awards, a further 82 venues received a plaque to show that they had left assessors impressed with their efforts in managing and running their establishments.

Jacqui Kennedy, Director of Birmingham City Council's Regulatory Services said "We are so proud to be involved in the licence trade in Birmingham, all these venues take their responsibility selling alcohol very seriously and these awards go some way to reflect that. Their pride in their work helps to make Birmingham a proper local city with a local heart."