Scottish venues raise the bar once more

THE Ayrshire town of Kilmarnock was well represented in this year’s Best Bar None Scotland Awards, with WG13 crowned National Champion and best Specialist Entertainment Venue.

From left to right – Fiona Fawdry, Lynsae Tulloch (chief operating officer, Scottish Business Resilience Centre, award presenter), Nicola Caldwell and Kate Milligan of WG13, Kilmarnock.

The nation-wide scheme, which champions best practice in licensed premises, took place on Thursday March 29 at the Dunblane Hydro – and saw another Kilmarnock venue, the Brass & Granite, named best Newcomer.

Elsewhere, the National Award category winners included The Garage, Glasgow, (Nightclub); The Kelburn (Heart of the Community); the Black Bull Inn, West Lothian (Independent Pub); Sportsters, Falkirk (Bar); The Globe Inn, Aberdeen (Pub); and Soul, Aberdeen (Independent Bar).

Inverness venue Johnny Foxes and the Den was awarded Innovation in Social Responsibility, while The Queens Head Hotel in the Borders was named best Hotel Bar

Three venues – the Black Bull Inn (West Lothian), Pinkertons (Fife), and Behind the Wall (Falkirk) – were presented with a Platinum Award for “continued excellence”.

Overall, 53 venues were recognised in the annual National Awards across 11 categories.

Mandy Haeburn-Little, chair of Best Bar None Scotland and chief executive of the Scottish Business Resilience Centre, said it was “a great honour to reward all our finalists and winning venues”.

“The licensed trade is a key sector of Scottish business and we are very pleased to recognise this,” she said.