Popular pub near Harborough shortlisted for national award

A popular pub in a village near Market Harborough is now battling to win a new top national accolade after scooping multiple awards over the last few years.

The Tollemache Arms in Harrington is one of six finalists from all over the country in this year’s The British Institute of Innkeeping (BII) Licensee of the Year competition.

Sponsored by Sky, the contest is hailed as the most prestigious award for individual licensee operators in the UK.

Known affectionally as the Tolly, the Tollemache Arms is celebrating sweeping up a whole string of top-notch award wins.

The well-loved village pub was crowned a regional winner at the National Pub & Bar Awards.

The Tolly has also won Best Training Programme – Individual Operator category at the BII’s National Innovation in Training Awards and Best Traditional Food Pub of the Year by parent company Wells & Co in its Pub Partner Awards for 2022.

And now after winning new national recognition, delighted landlord Joe Buckley said: “It's humbling to be in the final six of a competition we have looked up to and admired for so long.

“Putting the Tolly alongside such incredible pubs and landlords has been a huge ambition of ours,” said Joe.

“The whole experience has been such a rewarding process, we can't wait to get stuck into the finals and share a few gins with everyone else involved at the summer event.”

The six finalists have made the final cut from a vast field of over 300 entrants.

They have been selected because of their “community impact, exceptional mystery diner visits, financial and online audits and face-to-face interviews in their pubs with judges Sue Allen and Ashley McCarthy”.

Joe and the Tolly will be fighting it out against the Heron Inn at Truro, the Wych Elm in Kingston upon Thames, the White Horse at Buckover, the White Horse in Dover and the Greene Oak at Windsor.

All six finalists will be presented with a trophy at the BII Summer Event on Tuesday June 21 when the winner of Licensee of the Year 2022 will be crowned.