Being selected as a winner or finalist in these prestigious awards offers the opportunity to raise your pub’s profile, opening the door to new customers and potential opportunities. Making the shortlist also generates excellent press coverage which gives you and your team well-deserved recognition.
The Morning Advertiser has listed five reasons we think you should enter this year's Great British Pub Awards:
1. Time well invested. Going through the entry process will help provide focus on what you have achieved in the past year and highlight any areas for improvement
2. Team recognition. Winning an award is a fantastic morale booster for your team
3. Invaluable networking. Being part of the Great British Pub Awards offers entrants fantastic networking opportunities
4. A great celebration. The awards ceremony at a top London hotel features fantastic entertainment and bars. It is the best night of the year to celebrate the trade’s finest
5. It makes a difference to your business. Winners and finalists have reported a significant uplift in trade and publicity by gaining recognition at the awards
Tips on entering
Here are our top tips for entering:
1. Read the entry criteria and ensure you understand what the judges will be looking for and stick to it! Understand the category you are entering and tailor the information to suit.
2. Bring your pub to life through your entry. Examples of initiatives highlighted in your entry help make an impact.
3. Show the evidence. Don’t just put that you have achieved something – back up your statements. Use examples, figures and testimonials where appropriate to illustrate your achievements.
4. Remember to “market” your pub in the entry. Be innovative and show passion.
5. Put your heart and soul into entering! The Great British Pub Awards is an award well worth winning and makes a real difference to your business.
6. Don't miss the deadline for entries. Get your entries in by Friday 19 May.
For more information visit the GBPA website.
THE CATEGORIES
Best Beer Bar/Pub – Open to pubs with an excellent and profitable beer offer that has helped drive business success in the past year.
Best Cider Bar/Pub – Open to pubs with a fantastic, money-making cider offer that has helped drive the site’s strong business performance in the past year.
Best Community Pub – Open to licensees who have succeeded in building a successful pub business at the centre of their community.
Best Family Pub – Open to pubs for which the family market has been a key part of their business success in the past year.
Best Food Pub – Recognising pubs for which food sales have been at the heart of their business success.
Best Freehouse – Recognising freeholders who have best developed their pub’s business in the past year.
Best Inn – Recognising pubs whose accommodation offer has been a core part of their business success in the past year.
Best Live Entertainment Pub – Recognising those pubs whose entertainment offer has proved to have been a core part of their
business and driven success in the past year.
Best Managed Pub – Recognising managed pubs which have driven trade most successfully over the past year
Best Newcomer – Recognising those new licensees who have made the greatest impact since entering the trade (open to licensees who are new to the industry and who entered the trade after 2015).
Best Partnership Pub – Recognising licensees who have been the best exponents of the tenanted/leased/franchise model over the past year.
Best Spirits Bar/Pub – Celebrating bars/pubs with an excellent and profitable spirits offer that has helped drive business success in the past year.
Best Sports Pub – Open to pubs for which sport is a key part of their offer and the site’s success.
Best Student Pub – Recognising pubs whose student offer has been a core part of their business success in the past year.
Best Turnaround – Recognising pubs that have best turned their business around over the past 12 months
Best Wine Bar/Pub – Recognising bars/pubs with an excellent and profitable wine offer that has been a key part of the pub’s success in the past year.
NEW FOR 2017
Best Pub Garden – Recognising pubs that have developed a great outdoor offer, which adds a real extension to the business in warmer weather as well as offering opportunities year round.