Great British Pub Awards 2016
Great British Pub of the Year anticipates boost in trade
The Bull at Ditchling won the Great British Pub of the Year at last week’s glittering awards ceremony fighting off strong competition from hundreds of pubs nationwide.
The East Sussex pub took the crown of Freehouse of the Year before putting the icing on the cake by landing theoverall prize.
Licensee Dominic Worrall spoke with The Morning Advertiser one week on to explain how things have changed since the pub’s success.
He said: “It is too early to tell, but I suspect if you were asking me that question in a couple of months, when it is going to naturally tail off, because it is the season. I think I would say we have seen a 20% increase on last year.
“We are a super busy site anyway, but I have noticed in the last week there is a buzz about the place. People are coming in and saying ‘this is the one, this is the pub’ and you can feel that underlying current that people are excited to be here.”
Social media frenzy
He explained that though seeing a change in numbers was tricky to confirm, he had seen a difference in the pub’s online presence.
Worrall added: “But where you really notice it is on social media, which is the huge difference for me, and it is just extraordinary. On Twitter, we had 10,000 impressions.
“The engagement is off the scale, almost unmanageable with the amount of activity that was coming through.
“We can always manage our activity, but this was extraordinary and far reaching. It was lovely as people seemed really pleased that we had won.”
Aftermath
Following on from the after party of the ‘pub Oscars’, Worrall revealed sleep had not been on the agenda.
He said: “The adrenaline was pumping afterward,s which meant that rather than just go to our room and collapse, I went for a walk with my wife [Vanessa] around Mayfair and west London for an hour and a half just to calm down.
“We didn’t get back to the hotel until 3.30am because we were just buzzing.”
Worrall revealed the secrets of his success, which he believes sets his venue apart from others.
“I will give you good meal and good service, but it emphasises how important people are. The people here are outstanding and have been with me for years, some since day one.
“We are serious about hospitality. We love what we do. We are a good bunch of friends who happen to work together and our customers get that.”
Worrall is also the founder of nearby Bedlam Brewery in Albourne, just outside Brighton, and is campaigning to crowdfund a new brewery.
