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GUINNESS® Taste - Winning Pub!


We’ve come to the end of our promotion to find the best-tasting pint in Britain. The results are in, and the winning pub is O’Neill’s, Watford! We wanted to find out more about what makes their Guinness so great, so we caught up with man of the moment, Matt Stewart, Manager of the winning pub. Read all about it in our interview with Matt below, and check out the top 100 list below Matt’s interview.


Matt Stewart, Manager of O'Neill's, Watford


How important is it to your pub that you serve perfect Guinness every time?  

-Being part of an estate of the best Irish pubs around it is very important. Guinness is one of the cornerstones of our offer and it is crucial that we serve a perfect pint every time: you would not want to be known as an O’Neill’s that couldn’t serve a decent pint of Guinness!


What is your top tip for ensuring the Guinness is always served perfectly?  


-I’m a big fan of the Ronseal approach…it does exactly what it says on the tin! Clean glass, clean lines, two part pour and just a little bit of tasting every now and then…off duty of course!     


What inspired you to encourage your staff to get so behind this activity? 


-First and foremost I wanted to win! So I created a siege mentality, Watford against the rest of the UK! We’ve always believed we sell cracking Guinness so we just had to prove it. I also briefed my staff on the prizes and told them that they could keep the vouchers (prizes for the winning pub), I would take the plaque for the office wall….I am a big fan of those & it’s great to be recognised for the hard work we put into ensuring our customers enjoy their pints of the black stuff!   


What do you think is the reason so many of your customers voted for your pub?


-I’m hoping it’s because we sell great Guinness! We just blitzed as many customers in our business as possible explaining the details of the competition. We figured the more people you were able to speak to the more chance they would vote. As soon as they discovered that Watford was competing with 20,000 outlets we were off!  


The top 100 pubs in the promotion were…


























































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































1 O’Neill’s 66-68 The Parade Watford WD1 2AH
2 O’Neill’s 4 Friar Street Reading RG1 1DB
3 Spread Eagle 25 Victoria Road Margate CT9 1LW
4 O’Neill’s 44-44a Nolton Street Brigend CF31 3BN
5 Sitwell Arms Pleasley Road Rotherham S60 4HQ
6 O’Neill’s 2-4 Fleet Square Swindon SN1 1RU
7 O’Neill’s Victoria Street St. Albans AL1 3JJ
8 O’Neill’s 23 Montpellier Walk Cheltenham GL50 1SD
9 O’Neill’s 457 Sauchiehall Street Glasgow G2 3LG
10 O’Neill’s 27-29 East Street Bromley BR1 1QE
11 O’Neill’s 37 George Street Oxford OX1 2AY
12 Albion 25 New Line Bradford BD10 9AS
13 O’Neill’s St Mary Street Cardiff CF10 1FA
14 O’Neill’s 10 Low Ousegate York YO1 9QU
15 O’Neill’s 762-764 High Road Finchley N12 9QH
16 O’Neill’s 65 Cannon Street London EC4N 5AA
17 O’Neill’s 68 Hanover Street Liverpool L1 4AG
18 O’Neill’s 231 Old Christchurch Road Bournemouth BH1 1JZ
19 Callaghans - Holiday Inn Coram Street London WC1N 1HT
20 Boars Head 35 Market Hill Hertfordshire SG8 9JU
21 O’Neill’s 6-8 St. Nicholas Street Worchester WR1 1UW
22 O’Neill’s 37 High Street Sutton   SM1 1DJ
23 O’Neill’s 20-21 Trinity Street Cardiff CF10 1BH
24 Olive Branch North End Road Arundel BN18 0DU
25 O’Neill’s 14 New Row London WC2N 4LF
26 Phantom Leicester Road Leicestershire LE11 2AG
27 O’Neill’s Broadway Peterborough PE1 1RS
28 O’Neill’s 78-80 King William Street Blackburn BB1 7DT
29 Tickety Boo’s 51 Commercial Street Dundee DD1 2AA
30 Golden Lion 41 Moor Street Ormskirk L39 2AA
31 Brown Horse 3 The Cross Neston CH64 9UB
32 O’Neill’s 2-3 New Bridge St London EC4V 6AA
33 Kings Arms Hotel Station Road Stansted CM24 8BE
34 O’Neill’s 66 North Hill Colchester CO1 1PX
35 The Crown Lixwm Flintshire CH8 8NQ
36 O’Neill’s 82-84 High Street Brentwood CM14 4AP
37 O’Neill’s 7 Shepherd Street Mayfair W1J 7HR
38 Bulls Head Wicker Lane Hale Barns WA15 0HG
39 Star Bucknell Road Oxfordshire OX26 2DG
40 O’Neill’s 26 Great George Street Leeds LS1 3DL
41 Seamus O’Donnells Mr J Morton Bristol BS1 1UE
42 Shelley Arms 114 Cricket Road Oxford OX4 3DL
43 Black Horse Inn Ms I Boyers Chester Le Street DH3 3AY
44 Black Lion 1 High Street Sedgefield TS21 2AU
45 Ship Inn Mr & Mrs I Berriman Wallasey CH44 2ED
46 O’Neill’s 16-24 Baldwin Street Bristol BS1 1SE
47 Westbourne Hotel Westbourne (Swansea) Ltd Swansea SA1 4JQ
48 Vale of Neath 2  Tunnel Road Llanelli SA15 1LF
49 O’Neill’s 24-25 High Street Ealing W5 5DB
50 Lamb & Flag Inn The Tything Worcester WR1 1JL
51 Merryfellow Inn Mana Inns Ltd Charlton Kings GL53 8AU
52 Heroes Of Lucknow 264 North Lane Aldershot GU12 4TJ
53 O’Neill’s  1 Barton Street Bath BA1 1HQ
54 O’Neill’s 155 Queen Street Glasgow G1 3BJ
55 O’Neill’s Pauls Row High Wycombe HP11 2HQ
56 O’Neill’s 762 High Road Leytonsthone E11 3AW
57 Ryan’s Bar Ryans Public House Ltd Southborough TN4 0PN
58 O’Neill’s 64 London Wall London EC2M 5TP
59 Kings Head Norwich Norfolk NR13 4JH
60 Farmers Arms 86-88 Chorley Street Bolton BL1 4AL
61 O’Neill’s 71-73 Albion Street Glasgow G1 1NY
62 Queens Bacup Lancashire OL13 9AE
63 Hop Pole 78 Birmingham Road Bromsgrove B61 0DF
64 Daisy O`Briens Bournemouth Devon BH1 1ER
65 O’Neill’s 66 The Broadway London SW19 1RQ
66 Boat and Horses Broadway Oldham OL9 8AU
67 O’Neill’s 59 Upper Street Islington N1 0NY
68 George & Dragon Hemsworth West Yorkshire WF9 4LD
69 Four Bells Rock Road Barry CF62 4PG
70 Jobbers Rest Upminster Essex RM14 3LT
71 Grenville Hotel Plymouth Devon PL4 9PZ
72 Running Horses 25 Bells Lane Liverpool L31 4EN
73 Ridgeway Inn Newport South Wales NP20 5AJ
74 O’Neill’s The Parade Sutton Coalfield B72 1PH
75 Manby Arms Grimoldby Lincolnshire LN11 8SU
76 Navigation Heywood Lancashire OL10 1NL
77 Old Halfway House Robin Hood Wakefield WF3 3AB
78 Old Market Penel Orlieu Bridgwater TA6 3PQ
79 Flanagans 7 Pier Street Isle Of Wight PO36 8JR
80 Watford Social Club 70-72 Queens Road Hertfordshire WD246NN
81 Moon And Sixpence Glossop Derbyshire SK13 9AA
82 Leeds Arms Scarborough North Yorkshire YO11 1QW
83 Crown & Anchor 41 Hilton Street Manchester M1 2EE
84 O’Neill’s Broad Street Birmingham B1 2HG
85 Guildhall 42 The Bayle Folkestone CT20 1SQ
86 Crab /Ale House (White Hart) 25 New Bridge Street Truro TR1 2AA
87 Champion Brewer Martin Street Swansea SA6 7BL
88 Ram Inn 84 Bridge Street Derby DE1 3LA
89 March Hare Winchester Hampshire SO22 6JN
90 Mariners Lake Road Bowness On Windermere LA23 3AP
91 Bonnington Bridge 74-76 Newhaven Road Edinburgh EH6 5QG
92 Cavalier 148-150 Copse Lane Oxford OX3 0AX
93 Kings Arms Okehampton Devon EX20 1DW
94 Red Lion 375 Hertford Road Enfield EN3 5PP
95 Railway 7 Bakewell Road Derbyshire DE4 3AU
96 Smugglers Den 56 Poulton Road Morecambe LA4 5HB
97 Exmouth Arms Exmouth Devon EX8 1PN
98 Greatham Inn Greatham Hampshire GU33 6AD
99 Perseverance Islington London N1 3HT
100 Bridge End Hotel Abbey Road Caernarfon LL20 7YR


 

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This entry was posted on Thursday, September 4th, 2008 at 2:56 pm and is filed under Guinness Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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