Wadworth, the regional pub operator and family brewer, held its annual ‘Best of the Best Awards’ last night, recognising the very best pubs and people from its managed and tenanted pub estates and 19 pubs walked away with accolades.
The Best Business Partners Award went to Bernie and Carole Camish of the Poplars in Wingfield. In 2002 Carol and Bernie took on their pub tenancy where they transformed it into the quintessential village pub with two bars running it as family business with their two daughters, Ria and Sam, and son in laws, James and Ben. The Poplars supports a pub cricket team with a unique cricket pitch in the pub grounds.
Lloyd Stephens, operations director for Wadworth’s tenanted trade estate said “This is a real family business and the genuine warmth generated by the family is palpable when you enter the pub and they are worthy winners of this award”.
Another big winner of the night went to the team at the Pheasant in Chippenham winning the Best Chef, Best Food and silver award for Best Manager.
Other winners on the night included Dawn Eggleton of the George Hotel, Frome for Managed House Best Team Member and, joint winners, Dan & Emily Brew of The Curfew, Bath and David Conroy at the New Inn, Coate for Tenanted Trade Best Customer Experience. A special recognition award was presented to Gordon Straker for his dedication as Business Manager at Wadworth’s flagship hotel and pub, The Bear Hotel in Devizes.
The annual awards, which took place at The Bear Hotel’s Grand Ballroom in Devizes, celebrated the best hospitality talent across the Wadworth estate and awarding stand out managers, tenants, chefs, team members and pubs.
Speaking after the ceremony, Chris Welham, CEO of Wadworth, commented, “The ‘Best of the Best Awards’ give us a fantastic opportunity to show our appreciation and celebrate the success of our dedicated tenanted and managed house teams. The competition is always incredibly tough but the winners have gone above and beyond to show their continued commitment to both their pubs and customers.
“The awards ceremony is always great fun and it gives us the perfect opportunity to join together with our managers, business partners and team members from across the company. I’d like to thank everyone at Wadworth for their continued hard work and dedication in making the customer count every day.”
Sponsors on the night included Wadworth 6X, Heineken, Carlsberg, Strongbow, Weston’s Cider, Walter Rose and Sons and Britvic.