Eamon England and Arina Piskunova of the Windsor Castle in East Finchley, north London, have been named as the 2026 LOYA winners.
The duo were announced as this year’s winners during the BIIs’ Summer Conference, held in the capital on Tuesday 16 June.
Fantastic opportunity
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Accepting the award, England said: “We’ve all worked so so hard...I am a bit emotional.
“Five years ago we were in completely different jobs but we had such passion for this industry, we are pub enthusiasts and we wanted to be part of your gang and in Covid, we put our thoughts into developing something and put our money where our mouth is.
“Thank you so much for this award. The BII have been fantastic throughout this whole process, it has been such an opportunity for us to take a step back and look inside our own business...it has been incredible and this is the biggest honour we could imagine.”
The operators, who run a Punch Taverns pub, thanked the pubco for its help in reaching the goal of LOYA winner.
Great hospitality
Piskunova added: “This is a celebration of a humble backstreet pub more than anything and it shows that even a humble, small backstreet pub can be a representation of great hospitality.”
England and Piskunova fought off competition from five other finalists:
- James & Charlotte Foy – The White Horse, Leicester, LE4 4EF
- Linda Cole – The Berkley Arms, Chichester, West Sussex, PO18 8HG
- Micky Foden-Andrews – The Swan, Windsor, Berkshire, SL4 5JG
- Nigel Smith – The Fleece Inn, Bretforton, Worcestershire, WR11 7JE
- Sonia Labatut – The Plough, south-west London, SW14 7AF
All finalists had exceptional mystery diner visit scores, and faced financial and online audits, followed by face-to-face interviews in their pubs with head judges.
Last year’s winners were Mike Dove and Tommy Higgs, who run the Three Horseshoes in Witney, Oxfordshire.
