The Baum and Mango win awards

The Baum has been crowned as the best pub in town

The Baum and Mango nightclub have been crowned the safest pub and club in town, respectively, by the Rochdale Town Centre Management team.

A scheme was launched to find the “Best Bar None Accredited Venues”, with the aim of recognising and promoting the most enjoyable places to drink.

Early this year, the pubs, clubs and bars of Rochdale town centre entered into the scheme which was set up by Rochdale Town Centre Management, in partnership with GMP, RMBC Licensing, RMBC Community Safety and the Fire Service.

The UK-wide scheme, which is backed by the Home Office and BII was piloted in Manchester in 2003 and has since been adopted by over sixty other Towns and Cities with great success.

Best Bar None (BBN) aims to reward licensees who provide good management, a safe and enjoyable environment for customers, discourage binge drinking and prevent alcohol-related crime.

It encourages licensees to act responsibly and take pride in their premises and surroundings and, in doing so, put something back into the Town and their local community. The rewards for licensees include, the prestige of being part of the awards scheme, increased business within the area and lower insurance premiums resulting from the fact that they are running safer establishments.

In August of this year, Best Bar None assessors (consisting of representatives from all five organisations involved) visited all nine premises that applied and conducted interviews to test that they meet all 21 points of criteria. It is a very intense process that lasts 2-3 hours and involves the rigorous checking of training records, premises licenses, risk assessments and so on.

The venues that fulfil all the Best Bar None criteria are accredited and given a plaque to display outside the venue. This reassures customers that they are entering safe and responsible premises.

All nine venues that entered were accredited in 2008, they were: Bar 5, The Baum, Mango,  Pacific, Honey, The Regal Moon, Cask & Feather, The Roebuck, Litten Tree.

There were also three award categories, which were presented at the Rochdale Town Centre Business Awards ceremony in September.

Bar Category - Winner – The Baum
Runner Up – The Regal Moon

Pub/Club Category
Winner – Mango
Runner Up – Bar 5