Premises Information & Application Pack

2015/16 Best Bar None

Premises Information & Application Pack

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Index

Page 3 Introduction, who can enter & Background

Page 4Why BBN?What’s in it for licensees?

Page 5Promoting BBN

Page 6Changes to scheme

Page 7 & 8The Assessment process

Page 9How can premises improve their scores?

Page 10 Good practice examples

Page 11Application form

Page 12 Applying for tickets for awards ceremony - Thursday 5th February 2015

Introduction

Best Bar None (BBN) is a national award scheme supported by the Home Office and aimed at promoting responsible management and operation of alcohol licensed premises. Sheffield’s scheme was established in 2009 and is now in its sixth year with 59 accredited premises.

Sheffield strives to improve and develop its good practice. This information pack will give some background to the BBN scheme, explain about the BBN Assessment process and what changes have been made in response from feedback from assessors, premises and partners. If you have any further questions about the scheme please contact the BBN Co-ordinator Tracey Ford on 0114 2736851

Who can enter?

Pubs

Bars/late bars

Restaurants

Nightclubs

In 2009 the scheme was limited to premises in the city centre (within the ring road), however in 2013 the scheme was extended to include Ecclesall Road (up to the Hunters Bar roundabout) and Sharrowvale Road.

Background

In 2009 The Frog and Parrot won the Sheffield ‘Overall Winner’ award in the first year of the scheme and went on to win the National Overall winner the same year. Since then, Henry’s and The Plug have both gone on to make the final six shortlist at national level having won in 2012 and 2013 awards ceremonies the overall prize for Sheffield.

In 2011 Sheffield’s scheme was shortlisted for ‘Most Innovative Scheme’ award at the National BBN Conference held in Ipswich and was a runner up in this event. The scheme has developed significantly in five years, increasing innovation through additional bonus points available to premises and ensuring feedback annually from premises is acted on.

Since 2009 the scheme and the quality of assessments have improved dramatically, this is excellent for the scheme, Sheffield, the night-time economy and the premises.

Please note

In the past some premises have questioned why similar premises often win their category. Often, high scoring premises do continue to score well over the years of the scheme. However, the standard is now so high that the majority of premises are scoring a distinction mark in ALL categories, so those entering the finals can score within one or two points of one another. There can only be one category winner and runner up, so premises should be aware that even if not winning the category, the achievement of a distinction level accreditation is indicative of excellent and high performing work which could easily have made it into the finals.

Why BBN?

The aim of BBN is to reduce alcohol related crime and disorder in a town city centre by building a positive relationship between the licensed trade, police and local authorities. It reduces the harmful effects of binge drinking as well as improves the knowledge and skills of enforcement and regulation agencies, licensees and bar staff to help them responsibly manage licensed premises.

The process of becoming recognised by BBN includes meeting minimum standards and culminates with a high profile award night with category winners and overall winner.Responsible operators are recognised and able to share good practice with others. A scheme can also highlight how operating more responsibly can improve the profitability of an individual business and attractiveness of a general area.

What’s in it for licensees/Premises?

Often licensees will question why they should enter the scheme, whether this is because they have never done so before, or because they haven’t had the benefits explained to them. There are numerous positives for premises that enter the scheme and are accredited;

Acquiring BBN accreditation, tells your customers that as a license and premiseyou are striving to provide the best service for them

It tells your customers that you care and are working in partnership to make Sheffield a safe place to visit.

You can use your BBN status to help promote your business

Each premises entering BBN is contributing to the agenda of a safe night time economy, maintenance of the Purple Flag status which Sheffield was the first city in Yorkshire to acquire, and good relationships between the licensed trade, local authority and the police. It can also reduce the harmful effects of binge drinking on individuals using premises by serving responsibly.

The process of assessment can help licensed trade improve their standards for individual premises and the premises overall in the city.

The assessment processes is an opportunity for premises to identify how they can improve their practices, to receive an accreditation, or to move from a basic accreditation to a merit or a distinction accreditation.

Responsible retailers are rewarded and able to share good practice with others.

The scheme improves the knowledge and skills of enforcement and regulation agencies, licensees and bar staff in order to deal effectively with issues relating to the responsible management of licensed premises.

It raises the profile of your city as a safe place to enjoy a night out.

BBN is a nationally recognised

Promoting Best Bar None

There is a BBN webpage on the this list all current accredited premises, category winners, and runners up and the overall winner. There is a Best Bar None app which provides information about all the accredited premises, as well as some additional information on how to keep safe. This is going to be promoted in ALL publicity by the DACT for the run up to this year’s scheme.

However, you can help promote the scheme; do you have a Facebook page? Do you advertise?

Changes to 2015/16 BBN

In response to feedback from, assessors, premises and partners, there have been a number of changes made the 2014,-15 Best Bar None Scheme. We hope that these changes will help

What you said / What we did
Some of the questions in the application form were repetitive / Reviewed last year’s assessment form, moved all repetitive questions, mainly related to staff training into a separate section at the end of the assessment
How do we know that all assessors are assessing the same? / Undertaking an assessment is the process of making a judgement based on what’s being presented. This year we have provided assessors with some ‘model answers’, examples of what they are looking for, this will provide a guide, prompt for assessors to ask more questions and ensure that all are consistent
Premises might have met the criteria but how do we know if the staff are also knowledgeable? / We are asking that a member of the staff team be available during the assessment (pubs only) to ask them a random 3 out of 5 questions about how they would respond, react using the premises policies and procedures
Current scoring system isn’t as flexible as it could be; could we introduce a weighting system that can help distinguish between good to excellent good practice? / No changes have been made to the essential criteria, if all the essential criteria sections are not met, then you won’t qualify for the scheme. We have introduced a scoring system for all desirable and bonus points you could be awarded
0 points = No Evidence or policy in place
1 point = if the premises can provide evidence or if the premises can provide a reasonable explanation as to why they don’t meet specific criteria and offer an alternative.
1 point – Can provide evidence that a criteria has been met (i.e. policies and procedures) and can give examples (talk through) of how the policy is implemented, on the premises and amongst staff
Additional Bonus Point 1 – can be awarded where the premises have gone above and beyond what is expected and could be identified as good practice for other premises in following years
How can you ensure that the premises applying for the scheme are meeting their licensing conditions? / Applicant’sinformation will be shared with the licensing and police departments before BBN assessment takes place, this is to check whether or not a premise is under investigation or review.
BBN Plaques are the property of Sheffield DACT. Sheffield DACT reserves the right to remove a premises plaque if there is evidence to suggest that there has been a serious breach of licensing or any other issue that might undermined the integrity of the BBN Scheme.
Would be good to have some additional awards, suggestions have included :
University challenge
Best premises – voted by public / We are currently working on adding some additional awards and will be in touch with all premises to keep you updated on how your premises can get involved, or if you have any other suggestions contact me Best Bare None Co-ordinator or 0114 2736851

Who are the assessors?

The assessors are individuals who voluntarily provide their time to carry out assessments outside of the tasks of their day job. They come from a variety of back grounds including substance misuse treatment services, South Yorkshire Police, SY Fire and Rescue and Environmental Health at SCC. We currently have a group of experienced assessors and been successful in recruiting more assessors for this year’s scheme, all assessors are undertaking a training program that includes

Background understanding of BBN

Licensing, including licencing objectives and mandatory licensing conditions

SIA Licensing

Local partnership initiatives, between police and local authority

Undertaking a BBN assessment, what to look for and what makes a good assessment?

The Assessment process

Once you have submitted your interest in the scheme, premises will be allocated to two assessors, (new assessors will be paired up with a more experienced assessor) Assessments are carried out in pairs to ensure that the process is conducted fairly and thoroughly, brief notes are taken during the assessment. It also gives a level of consistency in decisions that are made about allocating points as two individuals have agreed on this.

Assessors will be given your details and will contact you directly to arrange a date and time to come along to do the assessment.

How do you ensure the assessment process is fair?

Once all of the assessments have been marked by the assessors, they are passed back to the Co-ordinator. All assessment booklets are checked and re-scored to ensure all points have been allocated to the total score. Once this is done, the BBN Co-ordinator takes the top five scoring premises from each category; Bar/late Bar, Nightclub, Pub and Restaurant, and then takes them through to the judging stages.

The judges are made up a variety of individuals who have some knowledge of the agenda of the night time economy, reducing alcohol related harm and the impact of alcohol on Sheffield. In the past this has included city councillors, health professionals, representatives of South Yorkshire Police and fire service, Safeguarding Children and Sheffield Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG)

The top five scoring premises from each category are taken by the Co-ordinator to the judging event. The coordinator delivers a presentation on the top 5 scoring premises based on the assessment, the assessment score, bonus points that were allocated to that premises and includes any additional information the premises might have provided to support their application.

A confidential vote is taken within each category scoring the premises from 1-5 (1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest) – this is collected in by the co-ordinator and then added up. The winner and runner up are the top and second top scoring premises from the judges. Once the categories have been voted for, the judges are asked to choose their overall winner for Sheffield from the four category winners. This, again, is done anonymously and confidentially. All judges are asked to keep the results from the judging session anonymous so that they can be announced at the award ceremony

Last year all judging was done “blind”, which means that all of the information about the premises extracted from the assessment will be presented to the judges as usual but we will exclude the name and or any pictures/photos or any identifying information about the premises.

What are you assessed against?

There are 6 themes to the assessment these cover

Theme / Assessment
Prevention of Crime and Disorder
Security
Drinks/Drunkenness
Theft/Burglary
Disorder
Public Safety
Premises Issues
Public Safety
Event control
Glass
Fire Safety
Transport
Prevention of Public Nuisance
Noise and Disturbance
Community engagement
Litter waste
Protection of Children from Harm
Safeguarding
Underage sales
Staff Training – this includes
Dealing with drunkenness
Dealing with Disorder
Drugs awareness
Crime prevention
First Aid
Underage sales
Staff competencies
Community Engagement
Partnership working / supporting charities

All establishments must meet the essential criteria in order to gain BBN accreditation, (See

Sheffielddact.org.ukfor example of assessment form and essential criteria). Should premises not meeting the essential criteria then feedback will be provided, to help them improve to meet the criteria for the following year.

Cost

Other areas of the country charge premises for applying for the BBN scheme, however Sheffield currently don’t charge, all premises accredited receive a high quality weather proof BBN plaque and are invited to attend the BBN awards ceremony. Please note there is a charge for the awards ceremony if you wish to attend, the charge for tickets covers the meal and entertainment for the evening

How can premises improve their scores?

Be prepared Be prepared Be prepared Be prepared Be prepared

You have access to the same assessment form that the assessors will be using to assess you. Before the assessment, do an internal assessment on your premises, this will help tease out any weak areas. The assessment form should provide you with enough of an idea of what assessors are looking for and to be prepared.

Feedback from assessors is that sometimes they find it difficult to make contact to arrange appointments

please try to ensure there are at least two named contacts on the application form and stick to the date and time agreed, please note it isn’t the job of the assessor to chase you

Please note: if assessors have tried and been unsuccessful in being able to make an assessment the assessment won’t take place, if you have any problems about agreeing a suitable time please contact the BBN Co-ordinator Tracey Ford on 0114 2736851

Feedback from assessors, is that some premises have policies, but don’t have them to hand?

Cross reference the assessment criteria on page 7 to help prepare, if you don’t have a policy then you won’t be awarded any points (if a particular policy isn’t relevant to your premises, then explain to the assessors why?, this could earn you a point)

Remember it’s your chance to show off what you have to offer during the assessment.

The box below is a list of best practice examples where bonus points have been allocated from the category winners from previous year’s BBN. Some of these form part of the bonus section on the assessment form.

Sheffield Best Bar None 2015/16 – Application Form
Name of Premises
Address, including postcode
Which category are you applying for (please circle) /
Pub Bar/Late bar Nightclub Restaurant
Type of premise / Chain (please state) Independent
Have you been accredited before? / Yes No
Where possible we require the names of two named contacts and contact info email and telephone to arrange assessments
Contact 1
Contact 2
To improve the assessment process can you tell us when the best time is for an assessor to come and assess? please note, we will endeavour to arrange assessment at a suitable time to suit you, however please note that assessors are voluntary and do assessments in their own time, so being flexible is key Please allow 1-2 hours
Monday / Tuesday / Wednesday / Thursday / Friday
What times would be best? You can be specific, please state below
Morning / Afternoon / Evening
Please use the box below to add any additional information that you think would help
I ……………………………………………. Understand that the premises details (above) will be shared with the licensing and police departments before BBN assessment takes place, I understand that the BBN plaque is the property of Sheffield Drug & Alcohol Coordination Team and can be removed should the premises breach their licensing conditions, Signed …………………………………………….date ………………………………..
Submitting your application, you can attached via email to or or by Fax 0114 2736984, alternatively you can do this over the phone by contacting the DACT on 0114 2736851DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS IS FRIDAY 8TH AUGUST

Awards Ceremony