Berry nice! City centre bar steals title of best in county at awards
AN independent bar in Bristol city centre has been named the best in the county at the National Pub & Bar Awards 2021.
The Strawberry Thief on Broad Street will now go on to compete at the national competition, with winners announced in September.
The news comes just days after the bar was forced to shut for 10 days due to two staff members testing positive for Covid, with the rest of the team having to isolate as a result.
Owner Mike Harris, who reopened his bar yesterday, said: “Having six or seven weeks of being open and then having to close was really tough so it is really nice to have some good news after that.
“It has been such a strange 18 months.
“It is really tough in the industry at the moment, we have all been struggling to get staff and it makes it really difficult to stay open with the rates rising everywhere.”
Mr Harris said he felt frustrated that the responsibility to keep staff and customers safe has now been handed over to them, with it being easier to enforce rules up until now as they were coming from the Government.
Having six or seven weeks of being open and then having to close was really tough so it is really nice to have some good news after that
The bar owner said they are going to continue to follow all the guidance to keep staff and customers safe – including wearing masks indoors, operating with a reduced capacity and implementing the rule of six indoors – but that it will now be harder to enforce.
“The reality is that we are not there yet,” he added. “We have got rates through the roof and are stuck in a really difficult situation.
“We are going into an uncertain summer, the last thing we want is to get too relaxed and then have to close again.
“At the moment, it looks like it is going to be a really tough summer so it is nice to be able to celebrate something in the middle of this.
“It feels like we are doing the right thing and I am really proud of what we have achieved in the past five years.
“You spend so much time looking forward so it is really nice to stop and look far we have come.”
The Strawberry Thief is an independent bar specialising in quality Belgian and UK craft beers. It describes itself as “independent, sustainable, and unique”.
Mike Harris