Pub Awards: Best Bar Team – The Old Mill, Baginton

With turnover doubled in the last five years and continuing to grow, this pub is one of the best performers in the entire Chef and Brewer estate.

It’s absolutely the management team and the staff that make the difference to this incredible venue - a stunning, rambling building nestling on the banks of the River Sowe. It would be easy for the Old Mill be complacent because its beautiful setting is always going to attract customers, but the team have taken to another level.

There’s great investment in staff training and development from the parent company, Spirit and now Greene King, with a 13 week induction programme covering off not just the basics, but across the board.

When it comes to customer service, the Old Mill really excels, hospitality is key at this venue, and is what helps set the pub apart from the competition – high standards are a given – and it’s the staff that keep customers coming back and are responsible for the pub’s exceptional success in recent years.

Staff know their customers really well – to an unusual degree for a managed house. The Old Mill has an ‘old school’ philosophy of talking to people and the personalities of the staff are able to shine through.

There’s a great sense of pride that runs throughout the team - they are fully engaged with their jobs and the business as a whole, and that comes across loud and clear.

Judge Phil Mellows said: “It’s not just its pleasant setting and historic building that has elevated the Old Mill to the highest turnover pub in the Chef & Brewer estate in recent years. What sets it apart is a team behind the bar that are not only well-trained, motivated and engage the customer but give the pub its vibrant personality.