Young’s has pubs right across London, the Home Counties, through to Dorset and Devon and took home the coveted award after going head-to-head with JD Wetherspoon, Fuller’s and Shepherd Neame.
The group picked up the coveted prize at the awards’ 25th anniversary celebrations held at Battersea Evolution on 15 March.
Young’s, which was founded in 1831, has over 200 sites and is the parent company behind the firm’s premium gastropub concept Geronimo Inns.
Category finalists for this year’s award were judged through an in-depth analysis carried out by analysts at the Publican’s Morning Advertiser’s (PMA’s) sister title MCA.
Analysis uncovered a variety of Young’s business achievements from over the past 12 months including food sales growth of almost 11%, menu innovation and an increase in overall turnover of £16 million.
Food turnover now accounts for almost 30% of the pub group’s business, with analysts predicting further growth over the next 12 months.
Ed Bedington, editor of the PMA, said: “Uptown girl. She’s been living in an uptown world…
“Young’s has continued to push the quality of its food offer ever higher, the result of which can be seen in its wet/dry sales split.
“Through the analysis we can see the team at Young’s is continuing to make a name for itself as a high-quality food-serving pub company in the south and London. And recent news of the group’s plans to switch to a new wine supplier indicates that we could be set to see yet more innovation from Young’s in the months to come.”