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Best bar none

23rd May 2007
Pete Bryant

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Southampton’s finest pubs, clubs and bars have been handed awards at an Oscars-style ceremony. The ‘Best Bar None’ event took place in St. Mary’s stadium where the contenders found out who had been judged to be the safest and best run establishments.

Hosts Matt Le Tissier and Power FM DJ Lloydy, as well as over 400 guests, oversaw the results of the awards. Winners included The Hobbit for Best Pub, Mono for Best Bar and Ikon/Diva for Best Club. The Gordon Arms also scooped Best Local Pub and the Daily Echo Readers Award by a considerable margin, with Mono taking the overall winner’s title for the second year running.

Roy Danns, landlord of the Gordon Arms, said: "It was good to walk away with the awards in the first year we have entered the competition."

Manager Colin Pollard took the award for the Hobbit and said: "It was a well put together ceremony and it’s great to have all the hard work of the staff rewarded." Colin was quick to praise the large number of students who visit the Hobbit adding: "Of course we value students. The place wouldn’t be the same without them." The awards have been greeted with mixed reactions by Southampton students. The Hobbit received a lot of praise, being described as "a good, well known pub", "not exclusively for students" and "cheap"(!). Mono’s pizza and drinks deals appeared popular and the award for Ikon/Diva was also welcomed on the whole.

The winning pubs and bars will be hoping the ‘Best Bar None’ scheme will have an effect on where students choose to drink, with John Martin, a second-year Maths student, admitting: "I would probably go to the Gordon Arms now that it has won these awards." However not everyone is convinced, as James Martin, a third-year Computer Engineering student, says: "It’s surprising the scheme hasn’t made more of an impact on where students tend to go."

Of the pubs and bars that didn’t make the list of winners, Orange Rooms stood out as a favourite among students as well as the Stag’s Head for its relatively cheap prices.

It is hoped that the Best Bar None scheme will raise standards as licensees try to meet the criteria of the judges. The Hobbit is a notable example of a pub which has changed a lot of procedures as a result of the competition and others may follow this example.

We asked some students...