Safety Thirst awards scheme recognises 46 London venues

The scheme, which has been running since 2005, this year gave accreditation to 17 venues in the square mile and also recognised 29 further venues with commended or highly commended status.

The initiative is similar to schemes like Best Bar None​ and is open to all licensed premises in the City of London; it aims to promote high standards in reducing crime and antisocial behaviour while also helping to ensure a safe and pleasant environment for people to socialise and enjoy the City.

All applicants for a Safety Thirst award are issued with a toolkit, which is designed to help them meet the criteria for an award. The toolkit helps licensees meet 25 core criteria, which are based around the four licensing objectives of the 2003 Licensing Act. Every applicant then receives one-to-one advice with either a licensing officer or police officer and the opportunity to review and improve standards at their venue. 

Chairman of the licensing committee of the City of London, Peter Dunphy, said: "A record number of premises won awards this year, which is a credit to the licensed trade in the City of London, which are working closely with the City of London Corporation to make the City a safe and welcoming place for the workers, visitors and residents of the Square Mile."

On the interactive map below, the accredited venues are green, highly commended venues are blue and commended venues are yellow.