The finalists are:
Almond Family Pubs
The company founded by Doug Almond is now under the stewardship of his daughter Vicki Williams and son James Almond, backed by a highly experienced senior management team.
Almond Family Pubs operates at four pubs in high chimney-pot areas around Stockport, aiming at the premium end of the mainstream community pub market.
Each of the four has a carvery at the heart of its food offer, backed by an à la carte menu focused on traditional pub classics with a modern feel. The creation of the new role of operations chef in 2024 has eased the pressure on other management roles, given chefs room to input creative ideas and improved the company’s food GP.
Staff wellbeing and celebrating success are cornerstones of Almond’s approach to people.
There’s an annual awards ceremony where achievements are recognised and a summer charity walk between the sites that helps build team bonds and boost morale. Training programmes have a progressive outlook, with menopause and sexual harassment awareness included alongside the basics of operation and service standards.
Cheshire Cat Pubs & Inns
Tim Bird and Mary McLaughlin bring decades of hospitality industry experience to Cheshire Cat’s seven top quality food-led pubs in rural locations, several of which are serial award winners in their own right. The sites combine traditional pub elements with a welcome modern edge, each with their own personality to suit the local demographic.
A top-notch food and drink offer forms part of the Cheshire Cat DNA and the business ensures staff buy-in through a scheme with “champions” for food, beer, wine and spirits across in each site. The programme accelerates employee development and adds genuine value to each pub’s offer, while special challenges help build team morale and share knowledge and inspiration between sites.
One interesting customer-focused piece of innovation is a membership scheme, under which regulars are offered extra cash to spend through the following 12 months when they pay a one-off fee at the start of the year. There are five levels to choose from and the scheme helps both encourage customer loyalty and eases cash flow for the business.
Ossett Brewery
Ossett Brewery operates 33 managed sites across West Yorkshire, with a premium wet-led offer focusing on its own cask ales and the keg beers of sister company Salt. There are three brewpubs within the group, whose pub-operating style is distinctly traditional with a 21st century sheen.
The ops team is tight-knit and work in constantly close contact with one another, both at head office and out in the field: they’re not afraid to get rolled their sleeves up and get stuck in when duty calls, with flooded pubs or manager illness both seeing senior managers help out in recent times.
It helps that several members of the senior team have come through the ranks, so they know what it’s like to be at the sharp end.
Team bonds are strengthened by the celebration of numerous quirky calendar days – International Carrot Day is a favourite, apparently – and monthly “Friday strolls” that end with a pint in one of the pubs are a chance for site and head office staff to get together and socialise.
Urban Pubs & Bars
Nick Pring and Malcolm Heap’s Urban Pubs & Bars group chalked up its first decade in 2024, a period in which it has expanded rapidly to 54 sites across London, with a steady pipeline of acquisitions.
Urban’s aim is to have the prime sites within the neighbourhoods where it operates, generally transforming them into high quality modern proper pubs with a healthy food and beverage split, though there’s a lot of variation from site to site as the location dictates.
They include a speakeasy-style cocktail bar in the West End, a stunning operation at Waterloo that raises the standard for station bars, a collection of tapas bars under the Salt Yard banner, and the sport-led Bat & Ball concept in east London, a second outpost of which opens imminently in Covent Garden.
A supervisor training programme provides a steady stream of in-house talent to satisfy the demands of new acquisitions and refurbs, allowing front-of-house team members to shine.
