The Last Word, Edinburgh

Having relocated from Manchester to Edinburgh in the past year, Gracie has immediately made her mark on The Last Word and the Edinburgh scene in general, creating her own advocacy programme, Poured with Pride, as well as co-founding community initiative Queerly Shaken. Already possessed of impressive product knowledge, Gracie is dedicated to furthering her education while mentoring younger bartenders as they look to progress in their own careers.

Ubiquitous Chip, Glasgow

A passionate and committed bartender, Luke has developed his skills and expertise working in a variety of top venues around Glasgow. As well as a dedication to continually growing his drinks knowledge, Luke’s commitment is reflected in the regular ‘Get Gibby With It’ pop-up events he co-founded in Glasgow, where attendees are treated to weird and wonderful takes on the Gibson Martini. Luke was the co-winner of this year’s SLTN Serves cocktail competition.

Bittersweet, Leith

Having begun his hospitality career among the bright lights of London, Sam relocated to Edinburgh to become part of the city’s thriving bartender community. At Bittersweet, his role encompasses everything from drinks development to training, as well as working with the bar’s own distillery – Old Poison – to develop new products for the back-bar. For all his technical prowess, however, it’s Sam’s commitment to customer service that is his real stock in trade as a bartender.

Leith

Quality draught beer is at the very heart of the offer at Malones Leith, so the team take no chances with their pints, maintaining rigorous standards and procedures to ensure that there isn’t the slightest slip in quality between cellar and glass. Symbolic of its Irish-Scottish identity, the bar prospers upon the twin pillars of Guinness and Tank-Tennent’s – but it also stocks innovative local brews and brings Irish rarities to these shores, all served with the same careful attention to detail.

Edinburgh

In the rarefied setting of The Dome on Edinburgh’s George St, the draught beer offer is designed around the core principles of consistency through technical rigour and an elevated guest experience through top-notch presentation. This large site with multiple bars has recently benefited from substantial investment in its draught hardware both front and back of house, while the premium feel has been enhanced by the addition of specialist products and bespoke glassware.

Forfar

With a thoroughness that wouldn’t be out of place in a much more dangerous profession, The Stag has refined its cellar management and draught dispense into a well-oiled system that famously pours a pint of Tennent’s people will happily travel from miles around to enjoy. But it’s far from a monoculture, having recently expanded its draught range to better meet changing customer expectations, offering up a varied bar that synergises with its excellent home-cooked food offer.

Duns

A beautiful outdoor garden space with stunning views of the countryside, the outdoor area at the Allanton Inn has recently been refurbished. In addition to stunning views, customers can now enjoy great food courtesy of the venue’s new pizza oven and lobster offer. Add to that the comfort offered by luxurious – and heated – seating pods and firepits and this family business has an offer that ensures it is a destination venue for customers of all ages.

Glasgow

A significant investment helped to create an outdoor area that seamlessly extends the indoor experience at SiSi while having an identity all of its own. Stylish, well-presented, and true to the brand, the space combines an outdoor bar, live DJ events, and a welcoming atmosphere to enhance the customer experience while driving business growth. Whether customers are looking for a three-course meal or some quality cocktails, SiSi has them covered.

Elie

With an outdoor event space designed for year-round enjoyment, The Ship Inn offers something for everyone through a varied programme of community events such as silent discos, games of cricket, sports screenings, live band performances and even weddings. By combining innovation with a strong community focus, the outdoor space has become a huge driver of the venue’s success and is popular with locals and tourists alike.

Uddingston

It would be difficult to find a spot in this venue from which you did not have a clear view of a screen. Live coverage of upcoming football, rugby and golf events were all being advertised when the SLTN judges visited the hotel. As well as brand partnerships, the management has embraced all online and digital methods of marketing including setting up special interest WhatsApp groups for the sports fans who regularly visit the bar and launching the venue’s own rewards app.

Edinburgh

Darts, Formula 1, Aussie Rules and GAA events all feature in the varied live sports schedule at this venue. Investment has expanded the facilities to include a new 150-capacity room, laser projectors and upgraded technology for quick channel selection. Attention to detail for match days includes having various music playlists lined up to reflect the result. Regularly updated social media campaigns let customers know what is coming up at Malones.

Glasgow

A recent refurbishment at The Raven has created a tiered seating plan that includes recliners and a standing area with a massive screen, which helps the customer feel like they are at the game. Football, Rugby, American Football and Aussie Rules all feature in a regular schedule with a snacking menu and sports-themed drinks adding to the match atmosphere. With screens in other rooms, the main room’s large screen can show other sports on the edges of the feature contest.

Leith

Combining Italian aperitivo culture with Scottish-made ingredients (including a huge number of products from the bar’s own distillery), this neighbourhood venue prides itself on offering the residents of Leith something a little bit different. The creativity of the small team is evident in the bar’s cocktail list, which changes every six months with each iteration following a distinct theme. Despite the cutting-edge creativity, the bar team pride themselves on friendliness and accessibility.

Glasgow

Launched in 2022, Daddy Marmalades has firmly stamped itself on the UK cocktail scene and has the trophies to prove it. Owners Kim Toft and Mari Chierchia craft cocktails that are hugely creative without being intimidating, with the small venue meaning each customer has the chance to chat to one of the bartenders about the drinks on the menu. Though the bar has a strong presence on social media, it’s word of mouth that has really built the Daddy’s brand – a testament to the bar’s popularity.

Glasgow

Nothing is left to chance at Kelvingrove Café, which has been an institution in Glasgow’s Finnieston area for over a decade. Quality and consistency are at its heart, with every impeccable drink built within two minutes and a picture menu showing customers exactly what they can expect before they order. Regular brand partnerships are mutually beneficial for both brand and venue, providing commercial boons to both parties as well as access to regular training sessions for staff.

Uddingston

Community is woven into the fabric of Angels Hotel. Alongside its established programme of community initiatives, the venue places equal importance on the wellbeing of its team, particularly its kitchen staff and chefs, working with industry charities to provide meaningful mental, emotional, and financial support. As a family-owned business with deep-rooted community connections, Angels demonstrates that true hospitality is about creating a culture where people feel valued and connected.

Roslin

At the heart of its village community, this well-established venue has become much more than a place for its customers to eat, drink and socialise. With an emphasis on traditional hospitality and care over profit, it provides a space where generations can connect, from hosting school functions and proms to creating activities for local children and even sponsoring a local ‘dads and lads’ golf tournament. The venue continues to fill many of the roles that are increasingly disappearing from local communities.

Alexandria

Community is at the heart of everything The Pawn Lounge does, from supporting local youth and businesses to funding Alexandria’s Christmas lights and raising money for vital causes. In an area facing significant challenges and reduced local resources, the team’s passion, creativity, and resilience have helped create a welcoming hub that brings people together, supports the wider community and gives the local area something to be proud of.

Founded by husband and wife Nick and Lisa Arkless, this is a truly family-run business where hospitality runs through generations. With guidance from Nick’s father, who owned pubs from the 1980s through to the 2000s, the couple opened their first venue and have since grown the business to four outlets in Stranraer, employing a team of 40 staff. The wider family is deeply involved, with children, nephews and in-laws all working with the business in a variety of ways.

John and Michelle Armstrong have built one of Lanarkshire’s leading independent hospitality businesses, with five venues across Coatbridge and Motherwell and a diverse portfolio offering something for everyone. Their strong family values, hard work and genuine passion for hospitality are reflected throughout the business, with more than 70 staff forming part of a close-knit, family-oriented culture. Their children, Brooke and Josh, are now named partners in the business.

Founded by Julie Dalton, this three-generation family business has grown from a single restaurant in 2012 into a successful multi-venue hospitality group encompassing The Adamson, The Physician and Hatch. Julie’s parents, Ken and Marge, have been integral to the journey, while Julie’s niece Bethany is now a team leader at Hatch and her son is gaining experience within the business. Today, the group employs around 30 people, rising to 60 during peak season.

Newport-on-Tay

Shoreline is an immaculate riverside venue set on the banks of the River Tay, offering guests stunning views and even its own beach. Four distinctive dining areas in the venue each offer their own unique atmosphere and vibe, while the fabulous food showcases the very best of local produce, brought to life by a passionate chef. Complementing the food is an expertly curated wine experience, with exceptional pairings selected by Shoreline’s in-house wine expert.

Linlithgow

Like a step back in time, this much-loved venue combines timeless character with a genuine passion for great food and hospitality. The team are incredibly proud of the building and its heritage, bringing that same enthusiasm to a menu of elevated pub classics, from fantastic peri peri chicken and exceptional burgers to beautifully cooked steaks served on the bone. A carefully considered wine selection, including the venue’s own Champany Own Label Wines, completes the experience.

South Ayrshire

With no set menu, this is a dining experience shaped entirely by the seasons and exceptional produce from local suppliers. Dishes are created with thought, care and a deep respect for the ingredients, with foraged, stalked and freshly caught food taking centre stage. Exceptional wine and whisky pairings add another dimension, with an in-house whisky expert bringing an impressive depth of knowledge to the Kirkmichael Arms experience.

Edinburgh

Open seven days a week with a busy schedule of live entertainment, Freddy’s has established itself as one of Edinburgh’s most inclusive late-night destinations, attracting a broad demographic for live music, cocktails and social occasions. Striving to offer something for everyone under one roof, this contemporary and energetic venue has benefitted from substantial investment to maximise its potential as a premium, experience-led night-out, focused on quality, consistency, and atmosphere.

Glasgow

Inspired by the warmth and character of a traditional Irish pub, Malones blends contemporary styling with authentic cultural expression to create an atmosphere that feels like a true home from home. Evolving over the course of the day from relaxed community bar to energetic night-spot, the venue has been structured to balance high-capacity trading with customer welfare, and premium hospitality standards, contributing positively to the cultural, social, and night-time economy of Glasgow city centre.

Edinburgh

A capital classic beloved of multiple generations of students, WhyNot Nightclub is the home of several regular party night brands which are quite simply the place to be for their target crowds. Exquisitely equipped for the job in hand, its spaces range from immersive sensory experiences to open-air chill-out zones, while its bars provide premium drinks alongside special offers that have the young crowd making multiple visits to this well-managed and safe environment.

The Barrelman, Dundee

Jacqueline and Tommy may run a small independent business, but they certainly think big. Commercially savvy and forward-thinking, they use targeted advertising and carefully-considered offers to maximise trade and profitability, as well as working closely with tour companies. They have a strong commitment to championing the very best of Scottish produce and that commitment to excellence extends to their team, with ongoing training to help staff members develop in their roles.

The Ivy Lodge, Aberdeen

Monica has played a pivotal role in transforming The Ivy Lodge from a 40-cover pop-up into a thriving 500-capacity venue. She has brought a highly professional and knowledgeable approach to every aspect of the operation, helping to design and implement the systems that underpin its success. With an exceptional understanding of her team’s individual strengths, Monica ensures people are placed where they can perform at their best, while putting a strong emphasis on development and progression.

The Original Rosslyn Inn, Roslin

A true champion of hospitality, Richard lives and breathes The Original Rosslyn Inn, proudly carrying forward five decades of family tradition while continually finding ways to evolve and improve. Forward-thinking and community-focused, he has embraced new technology while remaining firmly rooted in the values that have made the business a local institution. Always with a finger on the pulse of the industry, his ambition is simple: to deliver the very best in hospitality.

Kelvingrove Café, Glasgow

Always listening, learning and adding to his knowledge of premium spirits, Bran’s extensive experience behind a variety of bars shines through in the serene delivery of consistently excellent drinks at pace. With an unpretentious enthusiasm for classic cocktails done properly, his broad appreciation of the mixology scene gives him the confident ability to balance modernity and innovation with customers’ expectations and the practicalities of smashing out delicious drinks at volume.

Hawksmoor, Edinburgh

A self-confessed spirits geek, Carrie’s colourful career behind the bar to date has been dedicated to creativity and community. With a verve for experimentation, she is unafraid to lead from the front, even if that means being the first to make mistakes, as she is then the first to learn from them. But her mission isn’t about self-advancement – she has a genuine enthusiasm for passing on that hard-won knowledge and nurturing the next generation of Scottish mixologists.

Daddy Marmalades, Glasgow

Making banging drinks seems to come as naturally as breathing for Kim, whose casual style behind the bar belies the workings of an engineer’s mind carefully putting all the necessary components in their proper place. That analytical mindset gives her the confidence to make drinks as she wants to make them, unencumbered by trends or tradition, led by flavour above all else. This individualism is tempered by a busy schedule of collaboration and interaction with her peers at home and abroad.

Glasgow

Enthusiasm for all kinds of music makes this compact city centre institution a vibrant live venue. From folk sessions on a Sunday night to matinee all-ages gigs and visits from touring bands, the team at BLOC+ makes sure everything is comfortable for the performers as well as the audience. The venue has its own PA and can supply a full backline. Every act is given food and drinks as well as being paid. Music isn’t an add-on here; it’s right at the heart of the BLOC+ business.

Glasgow

This well-known Glasgow venue prides itself on running a programme that offers something for every music fan, whatever their taste. In partnership with Marshall and Natal, King Tut’s can meet all backline needs for the up-and-coming bands who regularly play on its upstairs stage. The Sunday afternoon Song Club gives young musicians their first chance to play in front of an audience, with many of these acts returning to play support or headline shows at the venue.

Edinburgh

The drive of an enthusiastic booker puts live music at the heart of everything that happens at Whistlebinkies. Often the first venue that local bands play in their professional careers, the city centre free-entry bar presents around 100 bands every month, with live music offered every night. The regular open mic nights and weekly jam sessions are treated as a welcoming starting point for new acts, many of whom then go on to headline gigs here and beyond.

Glasgow

This premium rooftop destination was created to offer high-quality food and drink in an environment designed for social connection, in keeping with its position atop the first UK outpost of European hybrid hospitality pioneer The Social Hub. Neither cutting corners nor leaning on hotel bar cliche, the Mexicana-rooted concept, married to painstaking physical and aesthetic design, has produced a unique destination venue high above Glasgow that can stylishly stand on its own merits.

Edinburgh

Taking Encore Bars’ considerable New Town momentum onwards into the Old Town, what began as a modest refurbishment project quickly evolved into a complete strip-out and full redesign, as Encore’s top team of Edward Fox and Gavin Currie committed to delivering the highest possible standard of venue. That willingness to invest in this historic space has been more than vindicated by the public’s response, delivering a ten-fold increase in trade in its first six months alone.

South Queensferry

With a canny eye on the growth of the South Queensferry community and broader trends in Scotland’s family dining market, father and son Bryan and Jack Coghill placed a bet on a site others might have dismissed as a dead end. Having project-managed the building’s renovation themselves, their detail-driven approach has continued into the minutiae of running a fish-and-chip restaurant that competes with the very best in the UK, winning fans from far and wide with comfort food made with fine dining skill.

Glasgow

A stylish blend of Scottish / Irish comfort and Parisian dining, Eleven Fifty Five strikes a nimble balance between sophistication and accessibility, creating modern European cuisine from seasonally sourced Celtic produce to offer truly flavoursome food at a surprisingly accessible price point.

Muthill

In the foodie heartlands of rural Perthshire, the Coorie Inn is a hidden gem offering creative dishes centred on local, seasonal produce, in a setting that is smart without being stuffy. Great care is taken with both the flavour and presentation of the well-priced food, leading regulars to describe it as ‘art on a plate’.

Pitlochry

There’s a real sense of care in everything that happens here. The food is the star, with beautifully cooked dishes, great ingredients and flavours that stay with you, and each course somehow better than the last. Nothing feels rushed and there’s a confidence to the cooking that lets the food speak for itself.

Glasgow

On arrival here the atmosphere feels warm and welcoming. The food is beautifully presented, with each dish bringing bold flavours and thoughtful combinations. There’s real attention to detail, without anything feeling too formal. The friendly and knowledgeable team make the whole experience effortless.

Leith

Offering Italian aperitivo culture through a Scottish, artisanal lens, Bittersweet’s spirits offer is built around something few bars can claim – they make a large part of it themselves. Through its working relationship with the Old Poison Distillery, the bar’s premium selection of key category brands is enlivened with small-batch aperitifs, vermouths, bitters, amari, liqueurs, gin, rum and experimental spirits, giving the team more control over flavour and a deep respect for the production and use of spirits.

Aberdeen

Opening in 2022 with 37 bottles behind the bar, The Old Workshop now stocks over 300 carefully selected spirits and liqueurs, from the peated malts of Islay to single village mezcals from Oaxaca, from Scottish craft vodkas to aged Venezuelan rums. This isn’t diversity for its own sake – each bottle has a reason to be there, entirely driven by its quality, character and what it can bring to a drinks menu serving the broad range of customers who frequent this atmospheric hideaway on Aberdeen’s thriving Shiprow.

Glasgow

High above the heart of Glasgow, VEGA’s unique skyline offer is built around a strong back-bar and a team that knows exactly how to use it. Working closely with brands, they’ve built a versatile offering, with all the premium spirits that their guests might hope for, plus some fun and funky brands that enable the creativity expected of a modern Scottish cocktail bar. That inventiveness has most recently produced an innovative tripartite ‘no, lo and go’ cocktail menu offering matching drinks across a range of ABVs.

Edinburgh

A range of 200 wines – and 40 by the glass – could be intimidating to some customers, but accessibility is important to Divino head sommelier Troy Sides. The extensive menu includes easy to understand tasting notes, which convey a warmth and sense of humour as well as information on each wine. Regular tastings and training sessions ensure staff are well informed on the wine range, and customers are kept informed about wine events through a regular newsletter.

Edinburgh

Having opened just under a year ago, Le Petit Raisin has managed to successfully build a broad customer base through a great selection of wines accompanied by cheese and charcuterie. The owners have made an effort to ensure their wine list stands out from the local market, with a balance of classic regions and emerging styles – all enthusiastically promoted via the venue’s social media. A separate basement space allows the venue to host a range of wine events and training sessions.

Glasgow

A huge range of wines has been assembled to accompany the Michelin-level food served at this top-tier Glasgow restaurant, including pairings designed for each of the restaurant’s menus. But if curated wine pairings aren’t your thing, there are around 60 wines available by the glass as well as a vast selection of bottles from all over the world. With such a broad range, it’s important the team are knowledgeable, and so every member of serving staff is trained to at least WSET Level 2.

Dornoch

With a focus on whiskies that are interesting, tasty and affordable, the bar at Dornoch Castle boasts a broad range of older distillery bottles alongside more contemporary fare, as well as weird and wonderful independent bottlings (including a huge range from sister company Thompson Bros). In addition to the ever-changing back-bar, Dornoch Castle offers its customers regular tastings – carried out by a combination of brand ambassadors and bar staff. The team also organises the annual Dornoch Whisky Festival.

Edinburgh

A passionate team helps make this busy Edinburgh bar as popular with tourists as it is with locals. A broad range of drams – incorporating distillery as well as independent bottlings – ranges from £3.50 upwards, while customers who don’t fancy their whisky neat have a range of cocktails to choose from. The bar’s calendar of events is stacked, with tastings, food matchings and a monthly highballs night as well as whisky-themed events held during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Glasgow

A giant among the whisky bars of Scotland, The Pot Still continues to evolve its offer, with more whiskies than ever (over 1200 bottles now), regular whisky tasting events and a strong range of whisky flights. But for all the fantastic drams that are available at the venue, it’s the team behind the bar that really makes The Pot Still what it is, and whisky fans – whether locals or tourists – would be hard-pressed to find a more passionate, engaged and knowledgeable group of staff anywhere in the country.