Best Bar None - the UK's national awards scheme for best practice in the licensed trade

Conwy County Borough Council and Denbighshire County Council hosted the 2nd Annual Best Bar None Awards last night [28/02/11] at the Kinmel Manor Hotel, Abergele.

2010 saw twenty-one premises across both counties apply to the scheme, with all reaching the nationally set accreditation standard and gaining Accredited Premises status. Phil Rafferty is responsible for Licensing at Conwy and Denbighshire Councils, hesaid: “Best Bar None is an opportunity to encourage and promote responsible management of licensed premises, enabling licensees to obtain accreditation which recognises their efforts and achievements as responsible operators.”

“Not only does it help reduce alcohol related crime, but it has also brought about better partnerships and relationships within the bar, club and pub industry, local authorities, and partnership agencies.”

The Accreditation Awards were presented by Mr Robert Humphreys, Vice-Chairman of the National Best Bar None Committee. Mr Humphreys highlighted the scheme’s success in other areas quoting that one scheme had seen a ‘25% reduction in’ alcohol related crime and disorder and had also seen a massive increase in trade and foot-fall

Ipswich people will find out which pubs, clubs and bars have won a prestigious award when the long-awaited Best Bar None awards night takes place later this month.

 Nine awards are up for grabs - including the People's Choice (sponsored by Archant Ltd), and the overall winner (the Best Bar None Award) - and all will be revealed at the Sir Bobby Robson Suite at Ipswich Town Football Club on Wednesday 23rd March.

 The idea behind the awards is to reward good practice by licensed premises in the town and to put Ipswich on the map as Suffolk's premier destination for a great safe night out.

Sutton Best Bar None (BBN) 2011 got off to a rousing start yesterday (Tuesday 1st March) with the borough’s licensed premises giving the scheme an enthusiastic thumbs up against a musical backdrop of ‘We are the champions’. Fifteen licensees from pubs, bars and clubs across the borough attended the launch, which was being hosted by Sutton BBN scheme’s 2010 Overall Winner - The Woodman pub, High Street, Carshalton.

The Sutton BBN scheme, which was launched for the first time last year, is a partnership venture between Police, Sutton Council and local pubs, bars and clubs to recognise high standards of public safety and customer care in the borough’s licensed premises. The scheme’s key aims are to reduce alcohol related crime and disorder and promote licensed premises as places to be enjoyed safely.

Packed into the delightful, old world charm of The Woodman, with images of last year’s winners and accredited premises flashed up on TV screens around the pub, the licensees signed up to this year’s scheme and heard from four guest speakers.

Supt Phil Willis of Sutton Police station, outlined how important the scheme is to encourage higher standards year on year in the borough’s licensed premises and to reduce crime even further.

The BBC have written a report about how alcohol use is falling in the UK, desite media reports that more people are being treated in hospital for excessive drinking. The full report is below:

Despite new evidence that more people are being treated in hospital for excessive drinking, the overall trend is that we are drinking less as a nation. Why?

It's difficult to open a newspaper without reading about the alcohol problems that exist in the UK.

Recent headlines include "Binge drinking costs NHS billions", "Hospitals reel as drink cases soar" and "Alcohol abuse to cost NHS an extra billion"

And this week, figures from Alcohol Concern suggest the number of people being treated in hospital for alcohol misuse has more than doubled in eight years.

But behind these stories is an unexpected truth - Britons have been drinking less and less every year since 2002.

Men and women of all ages are slowly curbing their excesses and drinking in moderation, according to the annual survey from the Office for National Statistics, which covers England, Scotland and Wales.

It suggests that heavy drinking is falling, abstinence is rising, and young people are leading the drive towards healthier drinking.

The decrease among some groups even pre-dates 2002, with men aged 16-24 drinking 26 units a week on average in 1999 and just 15 units a week in 2009, according to the ONS figures.