The George Inn, Norton St Philip in Somerset — a Butcombe Boutique Inn — has been named AA Inn of the Year at the motoring organisation’s Hospitality Awards.
In July, the inn, with a history dating as far back as 1397, won AA Inn of the Year, England at its annual Bed and Breakfast Awards. Now it has been crowned Best Inn in the UK.
“To say I’m delighted would be an understatement!” said Linda Johnson, general manager of the venue. “To win AA Inn of the Year, especially against such stiff competition, pays testament to my amazing team for all their hard work, dedication, and care.
“As a Butcombe Boutique Inn, it’s vital that we all do our utmost to ensure our guests have the very best experience and hospitality possible, so this prestigious accolade goes to each and every one of them.”
• Mitchells & Butlers says it has maintained its out-performance against the market, revealing a pre-close trading update covering 51 weeks to 20th September.
Like-for-like sales of food and drink were up 4.1% and 4% respectively over the period.
The company has increased the scale and pace of its capital programme, with 201 conversions and remodels completed in the year to date. It has also opened two new sites (an Alex in Germany and a Browns in London), in addition to the purchase of two freehold interests in existing sites.
It continues to roll out a number of initiatives to reduce energy usage, such as solar panels and sensors.
It remains confident of a full-year result “in line with consensus expectations”, reflecting a year of strong sales outperformance.
Looking forward to next year, it anticipates a higher level of overall cost inflation of around £130m (circa 6% of cost base). But it will face the challenge with confidence as its brands are well positioned to continue to outperform the sector.
“We are pleased with our performance over the year, in which we remained consistently ahead of the market across all market segments,” said chief executive Phil Urban.
“Sales growth has been broad based, with strong like-for-like performances in both food and drink across our portfolio of brands, supported by cost efficiencies and a capital programme which continues to deliver strong returns.”
• RedCat Hospitality, founded and chaired by former Greene King chief executive Rooney Anand, saw adjusted Ebitda for the year to March rise by 290% to £8.8m.
Total revenue for the group was down slightly, by 4.3% to £124.3m, but the business expects to be back in revenue growth this year.
It operates both the Coaching Inn Group and RedCat Independent Pubs.
• Jonathan Swaine, former managing director of Fuller’s and Shepherd Neame, has been named as the new chief executive of Jersey-based pubco Randalls.
“Randalls is well positioned to deliver sustainable growth,” said Swaine. “I am excited by this opportunity, and look forward to working with the team in Jersey to build on the strong foundations of the business.”
