Cateys 2023: Pub and Bar Award: Chestnut Group

Chestnut Group wins the Pub and Bar Award, sponsored by Britvic

The winner of the Pub and Bar Award has built a collection of beautiful pubs across East Anglia championing their communities and putting the guest at the heart of the operation.

Over the last decade Chestnut Group has grown to 16 properties with 224 bedrooms. Its continuous investment in the estate and focus on guest experience saw like-for-like sales increase by 23% in December 2022 compared with the previous year, with sales up 38% and annual revenue on course to grow by 18%.

Central to the group's ambitions is its team and in recognition of this it has rebranded its training and development programme, the Chestnut Academy, to give team members access to a wide range of bespoke training programmes and learning opportunities.

Chestnut offers job swaps across properties to foster camaraderie and allow teams to learn from one another. It has also relaunched its apprenticeship programme, with five apprentices currently in full-time positions.

Nine-month development courses have also been introduced for chef de parties and supervisors, and in the past year eight team members have been promoted into senior management roles.

The group has developed charitable foundation the Giving Tree, which has raised more than £100,000 through events including a 500km cycle ride and the addition of £1 on food bills to support East Anglia's Children's Hospices. The group has also introduced complimentary coffee and cake mornings for local residents and donated more than £10,000 of gifts to community events and fundraisers.

Sustainability is high on the group's agenda and it is planning measures to achieve a reduction of at least 5% in energy use, as well as working to reduce food waste, the use of single-use plastics and wider emissions.

It has also focused on offering guests experiences they will remember, such as evenings with supper clubs, zero-waste menus and afternoon tea in a tipi. It also planned an East Anglia Festival Tour, including dinner followed by a guest speaker such as designer Anya Hindmarch, journalist Justin Webb and novelist Justine Picardie.

Recognising an underserved demographic has seen Chestnut develop its ‘Chestmutts' initiative to ensure every dog is as well catered for as their owners with the creation of dog-friendly bedrooms and pubs, a healthy dog food menu and guides to nearby dog walks.

Achievements in the last 18 months have included winning the Best Pub Brand/Concept award at the 2022 Publican Awards and founder Philip Turner being presented with an Outstanding Contribution to Tourism (East of England 2023) prize. It's no wonder our judges said they had "nailed it".

What the judges said

"The team have built a beautiful business in East Anglia and are very much deserving of this award and their contribution to the region." Jillian MacLean

"Running an independent establishment is challenging enough. Running a multi-site operation is another level, and Chestnut have nailed this. They have a wonderful array of establishments to visit." André Ferreira

The shortlist

• The Audley Public House
• The Black Bull
• Chestnut Group
• Paul Ainsworth Collection
• The Scran & Scallie

The judges

• Karl Chessell, CGA by NielsenIQ
• André Ferreira, the Langham London
• Chris Galvin, Galvin Restaurants
• Jillian MacLean, Drake & Morgan