They are the Best Bar None

Seventeen venues were celebrating after Sunday evening’s prizegiving ceremony in City nightclub, hosted by Jojo Sutherland, which included entertainment from comedian Mark Nelson.

This is the ninth year that the awards have been held in the Falkirk area and 2016 saw the most gold accreditations received.

Best Bar None was set up to encourage venues to follow all the national guidelines on customer and staff care from both the Government and the drinks industry.

The 2016 winners who received their awards from Councillor Cecil Meiklejohn were: Gold – Artisan Tap, Bar 209, Behind the Wall, City Nightclub, Earl of Zetland, Falkirk Stadium, The Carron Works, Corbie Inn, Sportsters and The Outside Inn; Silver – North Star, The Canalside, The Newmarket Bar, The Wellington Bar and Warehouse; Bronze – The Black Bull and The Tolbooth Tavern.

This year two new categories were announced with Warehouse taking the People’s Choice Award, which had been promoted on Facebook, and Sportsters being named the Overall Winner.

The top-scoring venues – Sportsters, Artisan Tap, Behind the Wall and Falkirk Stadium – have all been nominated to represent Falkirk in the Best Bar None Scotland National Awards which take place in Glasgow in March.

Sarah McKenzie, Falkirk co-ordinator for the scheme, said: “Best Bar None focuses on customer safety and care and each venue that gains an award has demonstrated that it meets the standards set by the Government and the alcohol industry at a national level.

“We work with our accredited venues and our partner agencies in Police Scotland, the Scottish Business Resilience Centre, Falkirk Delivers and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service to deliver a safer and welcoming night time experience for customers.

“Anyone looking for a good, safe night out should look out for a Best Bar None venue knowing it has been through a rigorous accreditation process and demonstrated high standards across a range of important criteria.

“I would like to thank those involved for their continued support and to offer my congratulations to all the premises who have taken part this year.”