Gold Rush at Glasgow's Best Bar None Awards

Almost 100 Glasgow venues won plaudits at the industry event of the year - the city's Best Bar None awards.

Landlords and licensees were honoured at an awards ceremony, in the Grand Central Hotel, recognising best practice among the licensed trade sector.

A record number of 67 Gold awards were handed out to pubs, clubs and specialist entertainment venues for the work they do to enhance public safety and customer care in the city.

More than 350 industry professionals attended the event to hear how their premises had been rated by an independent assessor. The venues were judged on their efforts around Securing Public Safety, Prevention of Public Nuisance, Promotion of Public Health, Prevention of Crime & Disorder and the Protection of Children from Harm.

Paul Waterson, Chief Executive of the Scottish Licensed Trade Association; Arlene Campbell, National Best Bar None Lead; Mark Baird of Diageo GB and Fiona Moss of Glasgow City Alcohol & Drugs Partnership were among the special guests who presented the prizes. Guest speaker was Stephen McGowan, Chairman of B 11 Scotland who praised the exceptional quality of venues in Glasgow, and compere for the night was comedian Mark Nelson.

Overall Gold awards were won by The Crystal Palace, Campus, the Mailcoach, the Snaffle Bit, Champagne Central, the Croft Bar & Restaurant, Ibrox Stadium (Elior UK) and the University of Strathclyde Students Union.

Jeannie Kelly of Deoch & Dorus won the Designated Premises Manager of the Year award and Hampden Park Stadium was hailed as Best Newcomer (to the awards). The Society Rooms won the Best Training Award, the Garage scored a double - winning both the Scottish Fire & Rescue and the Apex Radio awards, while McNabbs was deemed the Most Improved Venue.

More than 3000 people voted for their favourite premises in the People's Choice Award which was clinched by Dram!- breaking Bar Home's three year run. Second place was won by Deoch and Dorus and Shettleston Juniors earned third place.

Phil Walker, MD of Community Safety Glasgow, which organised the awards, said: "This is the 12th year of Glasgow's Best Bar None Awards and they just keep getting better and better. That is all down to the hard work of the city's venues to safeguard customers and make Glasgow a great place to socialise.

"The recognition the awards convey is well deserved and the trophies are highly coveted. For the first time ever, we had 95 entries this year and 88 awards were presented. I'd like to thank everyone who entered for their hard work and dedication to raising standards and to congratulate all the winners on their success."

Prizes donated by premises were auctioned and raffled off on the night to raise £3,200 for the chosen charity - Glasgow City Mission Winter Night Shelter.

Best Bar None Glasgow was developed in partnership with Glasgow City Alcohol and Drugs Partnership, Glasgow City Council, Community Safety Glasgow, Police Scotland, Scottish Fire & Rescue and the Scottish Late Night Operators Association. The initiative has since been replicated across other Scottish cities under the management of a national approach by the Scottish Business Resilience Centre. Glasgow's Best Bar None organises regular training seminars (in conjunction with the Tennents Academy) for venues on topics such as stewarding, crime scene preservation, drug prevention, responsible drinking and recognising / protecting vulnerable people.

Glasgow's contest is sponsored by Diageo, Heineken, Molson Coors, Tennents, Chivas Brothers and Maxxium UK.

The overall winners of Glasgow's Best Bar None awards will now go on to compete in the national awards which are being held in Glasgow next March.

Go to www.bbnglasgow.com for a full list of winners.