Popular village pub near Harborough scoops two top industry awards

A popular village pub near Market Harborough is celebrating after scooping two top industry awards.

The Tollemache Arms’ Joe Buckley and Flo Pearce were recently named the UK’s Licensee of the Year by The British Institute of Innkeeping.

And they have now also won the title of the Heineken UK Sustainable Pub of the Year in the National Pub & Bar Awards.

The duo run the pub in Harrington, Northamptonshire, and had to undergo gruelling ‘Apprentice-style’ interviews by 16 industry experts to be named Licensees of the Year.

They beat five other finalists to the coveted prize – which comes a year after they were pipped to the title. The competition is widely regarded as the most rigorous and hard-fought award for individual licensee operators in the UK.

Joe said of the win: “We both cried. We were overwhelmed and we’re still on a high.

“Last year we were in the finals and we took on all the advice we had been given. We were also named as ambassadors for the British Institute of Innkeeping and we won a sustainability award.”

Finalists were selected on the basis of their community impact, sustainability and diversification, exceptional mystery diner visits, financial and online audits and face-to-face interviews in their pubs with judges.

The couple plan to celebrating their wins by holding a party with their 35 full-time and part-time staff.

Joe added: “The next thing is a glass of champagne and then we’ll think about Tolly Fest – there’s tickets still available!”