Gatecrasher nightclub crowned Best Bar None national winner

10-Oct-2011 - Last updated on 11-Oct-2011 at 09:38 GMT

Best Bar None: Neil Jennings of the Gatecrasher in Birmingham accepts his award from Lord Henley

Neil Jennings of the Gatecrasher nightclub in Birmingham was crowned Best Bar None’s national winner at a Parliamentary reception in the House of Lords last week.

The award, won last year by Nick Simmonite from the Frog & Parrot, Sheffield, recognises licensed premises which display responsible management and provide safe drinking conditions.

Best Bar None chairman Lord Redesdale said Jennings had gone “way beyond the call of duty” by working with the local fire service to prepare them in the case of a large-scale incident at the nightclub.

Redesdale said: “What really completely nailed this application for me was the press release to the BBC that they were doing a major search and rescue with the fire department in the nightclub.

“That shows incredible bravery and also shows a commitment to health and safety which goes way beyond the call of duty almost, because people have to realise that these are venues that you have actually got to train the firefighters to understand.

“To actually go forward as a club and actually say ‘There could be this great disaster in our club’ takes a great deal of panache I think and to actually go out and say ‘We are doing this to make sure this is the safest area’, I thought that was particularly good and it just shows the commitment to the highest level of safety and staff training that we came across and for that basis, it is a worthy winner.”

Commenting on his award, Jennings said: "I am absolutely thrilled to be win the national Best Bar None award in the face of such stiff competition.

"It is nice to get national recognition and that external assessors and adjudicators have seen the attention we receive, compared that to other schemes throughout the country, and have decided that the way in which we operate is worthy of the award.

"It is extremely gratifying and testament to the amount of dedication and hard work that my team have put into our Best Bar None scheme."

The fourth Best Bar None National Practitioners Conference takes place on 17 November at Trinity Park, Ipswich. Ipswich Best Bar None were crowned ‘most innovative scheme’ at the 2010 conference.