Hunt for City’s Best Customer Experience

Nottingham’s Best Bar None Awards Scheme, which recognises venues in the city that provide a safe environment for customers to enjoy a night out, is now asking city residents and visitors to select the venues which offer the best experience to their customers.

All of the venues that have applied for the scheme have been assessed and are now eligible to win awards, including some for “Best Customer Experience”, voted for by the public on the scheme’s website, www.nottinghambbn.co.uk.

Best Bar None was developed by Police in Manchester to help improve safety and management standards of venues.  Licensees work together with the Best Bar None assessors to ensure they have the necessary standards and procedures in place to offer the best possible environment for their customers, from safety to customer service.  There are currently over 80 cities running Best Bar None schemes in the UK.

This year, nearly 60 venues applied for the Nottingham scheme, run by We Are Nottingham, the Business Improvement District incorporating all of the city’s licensed businesses.  51 of the applicants achieved the standards and are in the process of being notified that they have been accredited.

Nottingham’s Best Bar None is supported by NBAC and Nottingham City Council, who provided the expert assessors that visited the venues to score them according to the pre-agreed set of criteria.

It has also received funding from We Are Nottingham, international drinks company Diageo and the Home Office, through the Nottingham Crime and Drugs Partnership.

The accredited venues are now eligible to win a number of awards, and customers are able to vote to decide which pub, bar, restaurant and club provides the best customer experience.  Trent FM are supporting the Best Customer Experience voting stage by promoting it to their listeners.

Leader of Nottingham City Council, Councillor Jon Collins, said: “I am pleased to see that so many of our city centre venues have taken part in the Best Bar None scheme, which helps to reassure people going out for a drink in Nottingham about the venues they are visiting.  Many venues have demonstrated some extremely good management practices that go above and beyond the legal requirements of their licence, which helps to promote a safe, comfortable environment for visitors to our city.”

Sylvia Manser, Chief Executive of We Are Nottingham, said: “I am delighted at the high level of interest in the scheme this year by the licensees in the city.  Best Bar None is a great way for the businesses to work in partnership with the authorities to help make the city centre a better place for everyone to visit at night.”

Voting is now open and closes on the 1^st August, with the winners announced at a glitzy awards bash at the Council House on the 19^th August, hosted by Twiggy and Emma from Trent FM’s Breakfast Show.