Pub of the Year
Brighton tavern named
Sustainable Pub of the Year at national awards
Preston Park Tavern was today (Monday 4 February) Sustainable Pub of the Year at the Sustainable Restaurant Awards 2013, in London.
Owners Helen and Andrew Coggings were presented with the award by Raymond Blanc OBE at the Sustainable Restaurant Awards at OXO2. Blanc is President of the Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA), which rated more than 400 restaurants across the UK to find the country’s most sustainable restaurants.
Helen and Andrew and their team live and work by the motto: “if we can’t source an ingredient sustainably we will not buy it”. This is illustrated by the poultry, lamb, pork and game which are all produced locally to high welfare standards. The pub also impressed the SRA’s judges with its commitment to active engagement with the local community, and a number of measures to reduce the pub’s environmental footprint, including recycling initiatives such as using local wood waste in the restaurant’s log burning stove and re-using menus to make waiters’ pads.
Mark Linehan, Managing Director of the Sustainable Restaurant Association, said: “Preston Park Tavern is an outstanding example of a pub that sits at the heart of its community, serves high quality, excellently sourced food and does all it can to meet its environmental responsibility. It is a worthy winner and has set the standard for other pubs to follow.”
Helen Coggings said: “We are so proud to be named Sustainable Pub of the Year, because operating in a responsible way is really important to us and to our customers. More and more people want to know where their food comes from and that you look after the environment and your staff. So to be recognised in this way is a huge honour.”
The SRA presented 15 awards and the winners include a fashionable rooftop London restaurant, an international hotel group, two fish and chip shops, and a Mexican and a Japanese restaurant group, demonstrating that restaurateurs and chefs across the spectrum are responding to consumers’ preference for sustainable dining.
The winner of the Sustainable Restaurant of the Year was cafe-ODE a beachside casual restaurant in Shaldon, Devon, which opened just nine months ago with the express aim of being the UK’s most sustainable restaurant.
Sheila Dillon, presenter of the BBC’s Food Programme was recognised for her unstinting efforts to champion responsible food production and sourcing. She was presented with the Raymond Blanc Sustainability Hero Award by the chef patron of Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons.
Most Sustainable Small Restaurant Group of the Year, Wahaca, co-owned by former Masterchef winner Thomasina Miers, repeated its success of 2012.
Two fish and chip shops were named Scottish and Welsh Sustainable of the Year: The Bay Fish and Chips, in Stonehaven, and Enochs in Llandudno. The other regional award went to Friends House, on Euston Road, which was named London Sustainable Restaurant of the Year.
The award for the Most Improved Restaurant was won by Babylon in London, which transformed itself from a One to a Three Star SRA rated restaurant over the past 12 months.
Awards representing the SRA’s three main pillars of sustainability, Sourcing, Society and Environment, were won by River Cottage, Devon, Cafe St Honoré, Edinburgh and Poco, in Bristol which also won the award for the Best Food Waste Strategy.
Feng Sushi, the small group of Japanese restaurants in London, picked up the Innovation award. The judges applauded the group’s commitment to work with UK producers to grow vegetables traditionally sourced from overseas as well as effectively ensuring a reliable supply of sustainable, seasonal fish.
The winners in full:
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Sustainable Restaurant of the Year: |
cafe-ODE, Devon |
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Sustainable Small Restaurant Group of the Year: |
Wahaca, nine sites in London |
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Sustainable Large Restaurant Group of the Year: |
Marriott Hotels International |
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Sustainable Pub of the Year NEW: |
Preston Park Tavern, Brighton |
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Sustainable Hotel Restaurant of the Year NEW: |
Dixcart Bay Hotel, Sark |
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Scottish Sustainable Restaurant of the Year NEW: |
The Bay Fish and Chips, Aberdeenshire |
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Welsh Sustainable Restaurant of the Year NEW: |
Enochs, Llandudno |
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London Sustainable Restaurant of the Year NEW: |
Friends House, Euston Road |
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SRA Award for Sourcing: |
River Cottage, Devon |
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SRA Award for Society: |
Cafe St Honoré, Edinburgh |
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| SRA Award for Environment Sponsor: The London Linen Group |
Poco, Bristol |
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SRA Award for Most Improved Restaurant NEW: |
Babylon, London |
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Best Food Waste Strategy: |
The Savoy, London |
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Sustainable Innovation Award: |
Feng Sushi, Eight sites across London |
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Raymond Blanc Sustainability Hero: |
Sheila Dillon |
Notes
How restaurants are rated:
The SRA Rating System involves Restaurants completing a rigorous survey, providing answers and evidence to 65 questions across 14 areas of sustainability. The SRA then assesses the results and rates the restaurants accordingly.
Three-Star Sustainability Champions – These restaurants have demonstrated exceptional all round sustainability, scoring consistently well across every category totalling at least 70%.
Two-Star Sustainability Champions – These restaurants have demonstrated excellent all round sustainability, scoring at least 60%.
One-Star Sustainability Champions – These restaurants have demonstrated good all round sustainability, scoring at least 50%.
The Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA) is a national, not-for-profit membership organisation providing more than 1000 restaurants with expert sustainability advice through a team of specialist account managers. The SRA helps member restaurants source food more sustainably, manage resources more efficiently and work more closely with their community. Members enjoy the economic benefits of greater sustainability and the SRA promotes their activities to consumers.
