BII Licensee of the Year 2019 Competition Launches

Entries are now open for this year’s BII Licensee of the Year award, sponsored by Sky. The British Institute of Innkeeping are celebrating all that is good about the licensed retail sector and can’t wait to recognise the top individual licensees operating in the industry in 2019.

The competition is open to managers, lessees, tenants and free traders, and last year saw over 200 entrants from across the country vying for the top spot. The toughest competition of its kind with a rigorous four month judging process, culminates in the crowning of the winner at the prestigious BII Summer Event on June 4th 2019. As well as the title of Licensee of the Year, the winner will receive a year's free Sky Sports Pubs and Clubs subscription for their venue.

Licensees can either nominate themselves or be nominated by colleagues, customers or suppliers at www.bii.org. Entrants must have been operating their business for a minimum of 2 years, hold a Personal Licence and have a food hygiene rating of 4 or 5.

The 2018 winners, Alex and Tanya Williams from the Polgooth Inn in St Austell delivered the whole package with their community spirit, kitchen garden and support for staff and training. Speaking about winning last year, they commented: “The reality hits and you realise it is the biggest competition for licensees. It was such a build-up and as naïve as this sounds, it was only half way through the lunch it dawned on us quite how big it was!”

Mike Clist, the BII’s CEO, added: “The BII Licensee of the Year Award has always had a way of finding the industry’s brightest stars and we are sure that 2019 will be no different. The winner this year will need to be a licensee who excels in all aspects of running a licensed hospitality business and be an ambassador for our fantastic industry.”

“We are very proud to sponsor the competition again this year and I am looking forward to seeing the innovation and hard work that people have been putting into their businesses in 2019.”

Nominations are open from now until to 28th February 2019 at www.bii.org or for more information, contact the LOYA team on loya@bii.org