Raising the bar for Britain’s pubs

For more than two decades, the British Institute of Innkeeping (BII) Licensee of the Year Award (LOYA) has set out to recognise the very best operators in the UK pub sector – and with it, help raise standards across the licensed trade.

Widely regarded as one of the industry’s most prestigious accolades, LOYA celebrates publicans who combine strong commercial performance with exceptional hospitality, leadership, community impact and consistently high standards across every aspect of their business.

Free to enter and open to BII members and non-members alike, LOYA is also about connecting people, explains Molly Davis, head of communications at the BII.

“In spite of being with people all day, being a publican can be quite a lonely job,” she says. “The BII’s mission has always been to champion the sector, share best practice and help publicans feel part of something bigger. The awards, and the interaction we see around them, are a great manifestation of that.”

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Business benchmarking

Importantly, the competition focuses on the licensee rather than the venue itself; a beautiful countryside pub with roses round the door is not automatically at an advantage over a tough urban community local.

“It’s a business competition,” Davis confirms. “It’s about community engagement, team development, customer experience, business future-proofing – and of course that X-factor of individuality and personality that make great pubs special.”

And winning carries significant weight. Quite aside from the recognition, profile and speaking opportunities, there are also notable financial benefits, from a year’s free Sky Sports for the pub to an uptick in turnover in the year following a win, courtesy of local press coverage, of typically 15–20 per cent.

The process itself also provides a valuable opportunity for operators to benchmark their business against the very highest standards in the sector.

“LOYA has always been a wonderful showcase and that remains the case today,” says Davis. “But it isn’t just about winning. As we’ve evolved the judging process, adding a number of different elements over recent years, the awards have also become a valuable feedback platform for the licensees who take part.”

An independent lens

The process begins each January, with operators able to nominate themselves or be nominated by others. This year, the BII received more than 800 nominations, which were eventually narrowed down to 50 quarter-finalists following a detailed application and scoring process.

At the quarter final stage, entrants undergo website and social media audits alongside mystery customer visits – an area now managed by Proinsight as the BII’s new mystery shopping partner.

For the BII, bringing in Proinsight was partly about practical resource: conducting 50 visits nationwide would be difficult for an internal team to manage alone. More importantly, however, it ensured a layer of independence in the judging process.

“Mystery shopping gives us that external lens and helps ensure every operator is assessed fairly against the same customer experience criteria.”

Molly Davis, head of communications, BII

“We naturally visit a lot of pubs and we know lots of people, which makes it hard to be completely unbiased,” Davis explains. “Having an independent perspective within the process is incredibly important. When you’re judging awards of this calibre, you need consistency and credibility. Mystery shopping gives us that external lens and helps ensure every operator is assessed fairly against the same customer experience criteria.”

Proinsight’s mystery shops examine every stage of the customer journey, including first impressions, marketing and promotions, drinks and presentation, food and ordering where relevant, payment processes, team interaction, facilities, maintenance and lasting impressions.

“The reports tell us what sort of environment it is, what the service offering is like, how they treat customers and how they approach marketing and events,” says Davis. “It gives us a real insight into the style of pub and how things are run there.”

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Getting it right

But why Proinsight specifically?

“When we were looking for a new mystery shop partner, we reviewed all the companies available and knew with certainty that it would be Proinsight moving forward,” confirms Davis. “From the outset, they brought huge enthusiasm, energy and expertise to the process and genuinely cared about getting it right.”

The partnership has also been notably collaborative from the outset. Rather than applying a standardised template, Proinsight worked with the BII to shape its assessment criteria around the specific goals of the competition.

“One of the things we really liked about Proinsight was their willingness to work with us, taking onboard the BII’s 40+ years of experience in this sector and not just giving us a standard, off-the-shelf solution,” says Davis. “They’ve been absolutely brilliant.”

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Transformational feedback

That’s particularly important with the awards now intended as much as a development tool as a judging exercise. Every quarter-finalist receives their full mystery shopper report, while semi-finalists and finalists are given detailed feedback packs covering every aspect of their performance, including highlights and areas for improvement.

These packs collate all the data from the mystery shops, social and website audits as well as the in-depth site visits from the head judges – something all 12 semi-finalists must go through, including a deep dive into two years of accounts.

“If people lean into it, they get huge value from it.”

Molly Davis, head of communications, BII

And where this feedback is taken onboard, it can make a big difference. Indeed, one publican duo went from missing out one year to winning the title the next after acting on judges’ recommendations, says Davis, adding: “That’s what’s amazing about the competition. If people lean into it, they get huge value from it.”

The grand final then takes place in June, with six finalists facing three panels: one on customer experience, one on people development and one on business resilience.

“We deliberately construct our panels to bring together operators with industry experts, balancing practical experience with specialist knowledge,” says Davis, noting the recruitment of Proinsight’s Deborah Jones onto the customer experience panel for the 2026 awards.

“Having independent experts who are great in their own fields really helps us – and our finalists.”

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A natural fit

For Davis, Proinsight’s contribution goes beyond technical expertise. “The enthusiasm they’ve brought to this whole project has been brilliant,” she says. “It’s lovely to see people who genuinely care about great customer experience and how you get to the bottom of that.”

This shared mindset has made the relationship feel like a natural fit. “They’re flexible, interested, excited and professional at the same time,” says Davis. “We work in a sector that’s all about relationships. If you find somebody who it’s a pleasure to work with and you can genuinely get on with, that’s massively helpful.”

As LOYA continues to evolve, Davis and the BII see the partnership with Proinsight as a crucial one – an important part of strengthening the competition’s ability to support publicans and raise standards across the licensed trade.

“You can really feel how invested they are in delivering a great outcome, both for us and for the finalists,” says Davis. “There’s a real passion for excellence in customer service and a genuine desire to help operators raise standards. That’s completely in line with our own goals as a charity and membership organisation.”