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BII Licensee of the Year 2026 Finalists Announced

By PubAid
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The British Institute of Innkeeping (BII) is delighted to announce their six incredible finalists for this year’s Licensee of the Year Award (LOYA).

In partnership with Sky Business, the Licensee of the Year competition is widely regarded as the most rigorous and hard-fought award for individual licensee operators in the UK.

Since the launch in January this year, licensee operators have been entering the competition, showing the judges evidence of how they have been building their businesses, teams, and communities, with a focus on their resilience, sustainability and diversification.

Selected from a field of over 800 nominations, our six finalists have been selected based on their community impact, support for their teams, commitment to sustainability, their plans for diversification and the “X factor” that makes brilliant pubs so special. They all had exceptional mystery diner visit scores, and faced financial and online audits, followed by face-to-face interviews in their pubs with head judges, Amanda Hemming and Ashley McCarthy.


The 2026 Licensee of the Year Award finalists are as follows:

Eamonn England & Arina Piskunova – The Windsor Castle, N2 8DL

James & Charlotte Foy – The White Horse, LE4 4EF

Linda Cole – The Berkley Arms, PO18 8HG

Micky Foden-Andrews – The Swan, SL4 5JG

Nigel Smith – The Fleece Inn, WR11 7JE

Sonia Labatut – The Plough, SW14 7AF

To learn more about our finalists, please visit our website here.

Steven Alton, BII CEO commented: “Our Licensee of the Year Award is the most prestigious & hard-fought award, showcasing the dedication and excellence in our sector. The final six this year represent a wide range of fantastic pubs, each offering a unique approach to the care and dedication to their teams and communities.

“We are very proud that the awards offer a value-added experience at every stage of the competition. Our finalists will have had the opportunity to evaluate their businesses at every stage, from mystery customer reports and judging visit feedback, right through to our final judging day at Sky HQ on Monday 15th June.

“I want to take this opportunity to congratulate all involved and wish them the best of luck for the final stages of the competition. I can’t wait to meet them all next month for our final judging day.”

All six finalists will be presented with a trophy at the BII Summer Event on the 16th of June, where the winner of Licensee of the Year 2026 will be crowned. The event is nearly sold out with only a handful of tickets remaining which can be requested here.

The BII would like to thank everyone who entered the competition this year. Keep your eyes peeled for another opportunity to enter in January 2027.

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