Pub shortlisted in national business awards

A North Dorset pub has been shortlisted for a national award rewarding business excellence.

The True Lovers Knot in Tarrant Keyneston has reached the finals of the 2007 National Business Awards.

Antony and Barbara Marshall, licensees of the Hall and Woodhouse-owned outlet, are finalists in the Business Innovation of the Year Award category - for a range of initiatives designed to improve accessibility and customer service for people with hearing and visual difficulties, including:

• Providing deaf awareness training and sign language lessons for staff to improve communication with customers with hearing difficulties.
• Installation of a hearing loop to assist customers with hearing aids to communicate with staff (the first pub in Britain to do so).
• Investing in vibrating alarm clocks for the pub's letting rooms.
• Providing menus in audio, large print and Braille.

The pub also provides special gluten-free and sugar-free dishes to cater for customers with coeliac disease and diabetes.

Other finalists in the category include Norwich Union, BT and PC World (DSG International).