High Street Bar Team: Customers come first

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The Sebor Absinth/Publican High Street Bar Team of the Year competition rolled into the streets of Bristol last week as we continued our search for...

The Sebor Absinth/Publican High Street Bar Team of the Year competition rolled into the streets of Bristol last week as we continued our search for the best bar team in the country.

The same round of drinks was ordered in each of the six bars visited by the judging team, which included Jamie Stephenson, the multi-award winning bartender and trainer. Each bar was assessed according to criteria including teamwork, interaction with customers, product knowledge and serve.

A Thursday night spent taking in the bars of the city centre ended up with the barstaff at the Slug and Lettuce on Corn Street crowned regional winners. The team, under deputy manager Gabriella Englerava, interacted fantastically well with customers, each member treating each customer as their own. The basis of their fluid teamwork was the great communication between them.

They particularly impressed with the way they handled customers while training a brand new member of staff. Service was quick, friendly and well-informed with all members of staff backing each other up.

However, a high level of product knowledge was evident in all the bars we visited, with the Lloyds No. 1 team able to react knowledgeably to some testing questions about the contents of their cocktails, while our friendly bartender in All Bar One was certainly well-versed on continental beers.

Customer service was generally good, although there was some room for improvement - as Jamie said: "Customer service and upselling to consumers takes a bartender no time at all and should always be in evidence."

The order was the same for each bar: we asked for a glass of white wine, a pint of lager, a gin and tonic, a Coke and a cappuccino. One of the things we looked for was how accurate the barstaff were with our order - were there examples of perfect serve, did the bartender ask what kind of wine we wanted, or if we wanted lemon in our Coke? Did they ask if Pepsi was ok if they did not serve Coke? Was the pint glass branded?

The team at Lloyds No.1 impressed with their accuracy of service, pointing out they were serving Pepsi instead of Coke and asking specific questions about what kind of white wine we would like.

Last month, in the South London judging, the addition of a cappuccino to the order created some problems for bar teams. However, to a man the bars of Bristol were not only able to make us cappuccinos, but very well presented and appetising they were too.

The team was surprised to see a barman in one venue use his hands as an ice scoop while making a cocktail and there was the occasional surprising lack of knowledge from a couple of obviously experienced bartenders. However, as a whole the level of customer service in Bristol was of a good quality and the team enjoyed a positive experience in all the bars it visited.

Jamie's pick

The Long Bramble at the Slug and Lettuce was Jamie Stephenson's favourite cocktail of the night. Well made and presented, what impressed him was the willingness of the bartender to say she was missing an ingredient, in this case raspberry puree, and improvise by using a different one - a raspberry and apple J2O. "She used her knowledge and showed a real ability to modify the drink and it still tasted great. The drink did exactly what it says on the tin. Too many high street bars have cocktail menus that exceed what they can, in reality, deliver," said Jamie.

Next month: Nottingham

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