Leading pub company and brewer, Greene King, has become the first hospitality business to achieve a nationwide Best Bar None accreditation, delivering best practice in customer and team members’ safety and welfare in all of its managed pubs.

Best Bar None is recognised widely within the hospitality industry for identifying well-run licensed premises and the multi-site accreditation scheme is a new venture for Best Bar None, designed to complement its existing regional scheme model and helping to bring more hospitality venues up to its required standards.

To receive the accreditation, pubs across Greene King’s managed estate were assessed on venue management, staff training and care, customer safety and welfare, and customer service and community, with the pub company achieving a 100% pass rate.

Assad Malic, chief communications and sustainability officer at Greene King, said:

“We want all of our pubs to be safe and welcoming for all, so to achieve a 100% pass rate in this new Best Bar None accreditation scheme, is a real testament to the hard work and commitment of all our pub and operations teams as they strive to provide a safe environment for our customers to enjoy.

“It’s been extremely important to us to invest the time and effort into upskilling our teams to reach the highest standards of operational excellence, as we have a responsibility, not only to our customers but also to our pub teams, in reassuring them that our pubs are safe spaces to socialise and work.

“We’re pleased to be leading the way with this new multi-site accreditation with Best Bar None and are looking forward to seeing the positive impact this will have for the industry as this gets rolled out further.”

Lord Smith of Hindhead, Chairman of Best Bar None, said:

“Congratulations to Greene King’s team for achieving a 100% pass rate in the Best Bar None accreditation across its entire managed pubs estate. We highly appreciate the dedication and commitment shown by everyone at Greene King, working closely with our national team to accomplish this industry first.

Every managed pub team within Greene King has now attained the industry benchmark, demonstrating the company’s commitment to safer socialising. We hope this achievement serves as a catalyst for more companies to join our Home Office-supported scheme alongside over 2,500 accredited venues.”

Greene King has committed to repeating the accreditation again in 2024, with assessments starting in the autumn.