10 September 2010

Wark-On-Tyne Pub Announced The Best In Britain At  Industry ‘Oscars’ 

Battlesteads in the village of Wark-on-Tyne was crowned the Best Pub in Britain in the Great British Pub of the Year Awards 2010, held last night in London. What’s more, the popular pub-hotel also picked up the title of Best Green Pub 2010!

Licensees Richard and Dee Slade saw off stiff competition from pubs across the country to be crowned Great British Pub of the Year. Collecting their trophy, they said: “This is a fantastic result. We never expected to do this well, even though we’re very proud of what we’ve achieved at Battlesteads. Thanks are due to our wonderful staff and customers; without their support we would not be here tonight.”

Paul Charity, editor of drinks industry magazine Morning Advertiser, which organises the Awards, said, “The Great British Pub of the Year Award is the ultimate accolade in our industry, given to licensees at the top of their game. Richard and Dee’s exceptional talent, determination and passion put them ahead of the other excellent finalists and they should be very proud of their win.”

Richard and Dee’s journey to last night’s triumph began earlier this year, when they entered Battlesteads for the Best Green Pub category of the Awards. Last month, they learned they had won that Award for the north east and Yorkshire region and were short-listed with other regional winners for the national title. They travelled to London’s Park Lane Hilton for last night’s ceremony, which was co-hosted by Morning Advertiser and guest presenter Lenny Henry.

The Slades moved into Battlesteads four years ago with ambitions to build a successful ‘green’ business, and have since implemented a number of environmentally-friendly measures. The pub-hotel was the first in the country to be powered by a carbon-neutral biomass boiler, which took almost £20,000 off the annual heating costs. Gardens and vegetable patches are irrigated naturally using rainwater and food and drink are either grown on site or sourced locally to reduce food miles. Richard says: “As well as reducing our energy usage and carbon footprint, we’ve also tried to educate customers and other people locally about the environmental benefits of green policies.”

Competition judge Glyn McCracken from Best Green Pub category sponsor SteriBev, a breakthrough natural cleaning product, said: “It was hard to select a national winner from the short-list of pubs with an impressive environmental record, but Battlesteads stood out as a great example of what a pub can achieve when it really commits to going green. Increasingly, pubs are looking for ways to reduce their environmental footprint, such as using fewer chemicals, increasing their recycling, reducing their water and energy usage and switching to eco-friendly cleaning products.”

http://www.greatbritishpubawards.co.uk

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Issued on behalf of:The Great British Pub Awards

By: Shiel Communications
For information on the Awards: Ros Shiel on 07841 694137/ 01403 267971ros@shielcomms.co.uk

For information on Battlesteads: Michelle Luscombe at Progressive PR & Marketing 07734 109200 or michelle@progressivepr.co.uk

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