Harvey's Annual Awards
This year we combined the Floral Awards and the Silent Customer Awards into one big celebration. Thank you to Ian Whitmill and his staff at the Red Lion, Stone Cross for hosting this year's award ceremony and to everyone who attended.
The ceremony kicked off with a retirement presentation to Stuart and Angie for their longstanding service at the White Hart in Crawley. We wish them all the best for the future.
The Floral Awards were judged by Jim Buttress, our expert gardener, along with Julia Prescott and Adele Smith, Directors and family members of Harvey’s. The awards were presented as follows;
Best Use of Limited Space:
Winner: The Hurst Arms – Adrian and Annabelle
Runner-Up: The Poets Ale & Smoke House – Zoe and Steve
Best Managed Front of House:
Winner: The Lamb Inn – Natalie
Best Front of House:
Winner: The Bricklayers Arms – Andy and Jess
Runner-Up: The Halfway House – Mel and Rowan
Best Surprise:
Winner: The Brecknock Arms – Sally-Anne and David
Runner-Up: The Wheatsheaf – Pete and Becky
Best Managed House:
Winner: The Blackboys Inn – Jay and Natalie
Supreme Champion Best Garden:
Rosebowl Winner: The Halfway House – Mel and Rowan
Runner-Up: The Swan, Lewes – Elisa and Jane
The Silent Customer Awards followed, presented by Harvey's Chairman Hamish Elder and Janet Wood from Silent Customer.
Silent Customers provide valuable feedback for over 150 food and drink venues each month with an average benchmark score of 85%. Judging is based on everything from product quality and ambience to suggestive selling and marketing of the pubs in-house and through the use of social media. The Silent Customer awards 6 pubs per year the full 100% score, therefore to attain this level of satisfaction customers must be fully engaged with all areas of the establishment they are assessing. The Blackboys Inn did achieve the 100% score which is testament to the hard work that has gone into the pub by Jay and Natalie Dunbar, the current Managers.
“We were delighted that all our pubs surpassed our independent silent customer’s very high standard. With a quarter of houses both tenanted and managed exceeding the highest 85% benchmark”. Hamish Elder, Chairman, Harvey’s Brewery.
The winners were announced on the day and each received a certificate and cash prize of £1000. The winners of each category were:
Best Destination Pub
Winner: Red Lion, Turners Hill - Graham and Lorna
The Silent Customer says;
‘I was expecting simple traditional pub food served with a minimum of fuss. My expectations were greatly exceeded as the presentation, taste, quality and quantity of the food was superb. The fact that we received table service in a pub and that the service was attentive and professional was the icing on the cake.’
Best Local Pub
Winner: The Brecknock Arms - Sally-Anne and David
The Silent Customer says;
‘From start to finish we had a great experience. From the warm welcome, to being shown to our table, everything was positive. Staff were knowledgeable and we were served beautiful, generous, piping hot food. We enjoyed the mellow background music and relaxed atmosphere. The bill was accompanied by handcrafted fudge and we departed with a warm goodbye’.
Best Innovation Pub
Winner: The Poets Ale & Smoke House - Zoe and Steve
The Silent Customer says;
‘I felt very welcomed and comfortable in this pub. I would love to visit again especially for the food. I could definitely see myself becoming a regular and getting onto a first name basis with the lovely staff’.
Best Managed House
Winner: The Blackboys Inn - Jay and Natalie
The silent customer says;
‘Of all the pubs we have visited/stayed at over the past 10 years, this must be in the top 5. If it was farther away, we would definitely stay for a couple of nights!’
The following runners-up were also awarded on the day;
- The Cat’s Back – Pete and Fanny Martin
- Two Brewers – Simon Day
- Rights of Man – Ed Woodliffe
- White Hart – Stuart and Angie Attenborough, and Tanya Lawrence
- Bulls Head – Mike Corfield
- The Victoria Hotel – Gary and Ros Martin
- The Hurst Arms – Adrian and Annabelle
- The Pilot – Mr and Mrs J Hoolihan
- The Royal Oak, Barcombe – Daryl Cowlard
- The Bricklayers Arms – Andy and Jess Hogg
- The Fountain – Graham and Jenny Staveley
- The Lamb – Natalie and John
