Our boutique pub company Cheshire Cat Pubs and Inns celebrated triple success at the hospitality industry’s ‘Oscars’.
Cheshire Cat Pubs and Inns took home three titles on the night down in London, scooping the prize for Best Operations Team, Best Drinks Act and Best Food Act at The Publican Awards 2025.
The awards, organised by leading trade title The Morning Advertiser, celebrate the best in the business and culminate in an outstanding night at Evolution London, bringing together the leading pub and bar operators from across the UK.
Cheshire Cat Pubs and Inns has its base in the village of Mobberley, Cheshire and operates seven village and country pubs, five in Cheshire and two in North Staffordshire. They are celebrating their 15th year this year at their first pub in the Northwest, the Bulls Head in Mobberley. Owners Tim Bird and Mary McLaughlin were over the moon with such a great achievement!
“We took our managers and head chefs with us to London and what a night it turned out to be. To win one Publican Award is difficult enough but to win three is frankly amazing….. we are so proud! Our entire team across our seven pubs are the real winners, we are so delighted for all of them.”
The Morning Advertiser editor Ed Bedington said: “Big congratulations to all our finalists and winners tonight, particularly Cheshire Cat for pulling off the impressive feat of winning all three of its categories.
“These awards celebrate the best in the business and recognise operators that are performing at the very top of their game. The pub and bar sector, and the wider hospitality industry, is facing some unprecedented challenges, particularly in vastly increased taxation, but it is good to step back and recognise some of the amazing work that is going on.
“These awards show that despite the challenges everyone is facing, standards are not being allowed to slip and the sector remains committed to operating at the highest possible levels.”
Our Wine Champions have just completed their latest training series, Pour & Explore, and what a journey it’s been!
Over the past few months, Champions from each of our pubs have deepened their knowledge of wine production, tasting, food pairing, and guest storytelling. Through workshops, supplier sessions, and creative projects, they’ve gained the skills to confidently train their teams and elevate the guest experience across the group.
The series culminated in The Grape Escape — an eight-day inter-pub challenge where teams competed to sell the most of our limited-edition wines, inspired by vineyard visits in Porto and Mallorca. Each pub created their own food and wine pairing menus, with Champions leading the way in training, marketing, and service.
The Roebuck Inn took home the win for top sales and the most diverse wine offering—proof of excellent team training and tailored guest engagement.
Will Matison, Wine Champion at The Roebuck, was crowned our overall winner, scoring top marks in every category.
We’re incredibly proud of the knowledge, creativity, and teamwork shown throughout this training programme. A big thank you to all the Champions and pubs who got stuck in and brought the project to life—we can’t wait to see how you use your skills in service going forward.
Next up for our Wine Champions – our Perfect Pours & Signature Sips series launches in May!
IN 1ST PLACE TEAM FOLLY
A wonderful weather day greeted our keen Treasure Hunters for the Cholmondeley Arms 10th Car Treasure Hunt. Appropriately 10 Cars made it on to ‘the grid’.
The teams were sent off down local lanes out Norbury way and back via Wrenbury having to photograph coloured doors, answering tie-breaker questions and of course trying to pick up the 40 clues set by owner Tim.
All our teams arrived back safely after a couple of hours and enjoyed a much-needed drink and complimentary nibbles while Tim and Helen set about marking the papers.
In third place we had regular treasure hunters ‘Mickey’s Maniacs’ who bettered their finish year on year, as they picked up a £40 gift card to use in our pubs. In second place were our Bulls Head in Mobberley regulars ‘the Bulls Head Runaways’ who picked up a £60.00 gift card to use in our pubs.
In first place this year were Team Folly, who picked up a Tanqueray 0.0% Alcohol Hamper, the Treasure Hunt Cup, a £200 gift card to use in our pubs and were confirmed as the 10th Cholmondeley Arms Treasure Hunt Champions of 2024!
Well done and a big thank you to all the teams who took part, you all did very well indeed. We hope to see you all again soon. We raised £110.00 for the Air Ambulance charity.
Thank you for competing and making it another great day at the Cholmondeley Arms.
From left to right Cholmondeley deputy manager Leigh, Cholmondeley manager Helen, Cheshire Cat owner Tim, Fitzherbert Arms head chef Connor, Cheshire Cat owner Mary and Fitzherbert Manager Rebecca!
Our pub company Cheshire Cat Pubs and Inns, owned by Tim and Mary, is celebrating again after two of their pubs achieved great accolades at the Pub and Bar Magazine Awards in London on Wednesday 26th June 2024. The Cholmondeley Arms and the Fitzherbert Arms made the journey to the awards having been chosen as County winners of Cheshire and Staffordshire respectively.
Cholmondeley Arms Manager Helen and Deputy manager Leigh arrived in London to see if the Cholmondeley Arms Team could go one further and win the Northwest region. Great news! The Chum won it! We now have the honour of ‘Best in the Northwest’ back within our Company Cheshire Cat. We held the honour previously with our sister pub the Church Inn back in 2021. Owners Tim and Mary were at the awards to help the teams celebrate!
The Fitzherbert Arms meanwhile had already won ‘Best Pub in Staffordshire’ for the third year running. The Fitz Manager Rebecca and Head Chef Connor headed to London to see if the Fitzherbert Arms Team could go one further and win the West Midlands region. To their complete surprise they went one better and won the honour of the National ‘Best Taste’ Award sponsored by Tyrells Crisps, which recognised most notably the great food performance under the stewardship of Head Chef Connor and his kitchen team and of course the effort of the entire team who make the Fitz the great pub it is today.
Please check out the photo of the entire team at the awards and you’ll notice the enormous bag of Tyrells crisps which has a photo of the Fitzherbert Arms across the front! It was fun carrying that around London after the awards! All in all, it was a great night in London, and we are all very proud of Rebecca, Connor and the entire Fitz team and Helen and Leigh and the entire Cholmondeley Arms team.
A great night at the Pub and Bar Magazine Awards in London! The Cholmondeley Arms had already won the County of Cheshire in the Awards a month or so ago. Manager Helen and Deputy manager Leigh headed to London to see if the Cholmondeley Arms Team could go one further and win the Northwest region. Great news! The Chum won it! We now have the honour of ‘Best in the Northwest’ back within our Company Cheshire Cat. We held the honour previously with our sister pub the Church Inn back in 2021. Owners Tim and Mary were at the awards too along with Rebecca and Connor from our Fitzherbert Arms who had been chosen as Best in Staffordshire for the third year running! The Fitzherbert won a special ‘Best Taste Award’ reflecting their pubs amazing food and drinks act.
All in all it was a great nght in London and we are all very proud of Helen and the team at the Cholmondeley Arms….another great accolade after winning ‘Pub of the Year’ at the Great British Pub Awards for 2023/24.
