Cheshire Cats Pubs & Bars, who own and operate The Cholmondeley Arms on the Cholmondeley estate, The Bulls Head and Church Inn in Mobberley, the Three Greyhounds Inn in Allostock, the Fitzherbert Arms in Swynnerton and the Red Lion in Weymouth, Dorset, has been voted the company with the Best Drinks Act in the UK at the prestigious Publican Awards ceremony in London.

Cheshire Cats Pubs & Bars beat a number of national chains to the title, drawing high praise from the judges for supporting cask ales from local brewers. The company was also awarded a ‘Highly Commended’ title in the Best Food Offer category.

Each pub within the collection specializes in a particular drink with The Cholmondeley Arms boasting more than 300 gins, the Red Lion offering more than 80 rums and the Fitzherbert Arms offering over 30 Ports by the bottle. Whiel the Bulls Head, Three Greyhounds Inn and the Church have enviable collections of Whisky, Brandy and wine respectfully.

Tim Bird, owner of the unique collection of village pubs and country inns, comments: “These awards are equivalent to the drinks industry’s ‘Oscars’ and it is fantastic that our pubs and our teams has been recognized in this way. The award recognises the hard work that the team puts in and how we work with local breweries, suppliers and food producers to bring a memorable and unique experience to our customers everyday.”

Ed Bebbington, of the Publican’s Morning Advertiser, comments: “This is a company that puts a lot of time and thought into getting its drink offer right, from its superb focus on local, great beers, through to an impressive offer of wines and spirits.”

Tim Bird and Mary McLaughlin, owners of Cheshire Cat Pubs & Bars, have already won numerous awards for restoring pubs of great heritage and character and are now focused on the Roebuck Inn, also in Mobberley which after three years of closure is set to open in April.

For further information on Cheshire Cat Pubs and its collection of pubs, please visit www.cheshirecatpubsandbars.co.uk.

Barry from the Bulls Head gives it the big thumbs up

Barry, Simon, Mary and James are delighted with the win

Brian of the Red Lion holds the trophy aloft our little 'Oscar'

Cheshire Cat win the UK's Best Drinks Act for 2016

James from the Three Greyhounds Inn celebrates with a kiss

Jess from the Cholmondeley Arms is very proud to hold the trophy

Leanne from our new pub the Fitzherbert Arms cannot believe our success at the first time of asking

Mary is delighted and proud indeed for all the teams

Mary with the trophy and comedian Michael Mcintyre, Tim and Simon from Coca Cola the sponsors of the award

Simon from the Church Inn seems very happy....

The best Drinks Act win hits the big screen

The Big screens reveal the nominations

The Team celebrate the huge win after the awards presentation

Tim and Mary ...wow what a win!!

Tim is stunned and so proud of the team

We are proud to announce that the Red Lion here in Weymouth has been included in three of the leading pub guides in 2015. Brian and the team have worked very hard since we took on the Red Lion five years ago to establish the pub as a pub to enjoy all year round. The Red Lion has been invested in twice since 2009 the latter restoration was just prior to the 2012 Olympic sailing events. We appreciate the support of our customers throughout the year such as the life boat crew who use the pub along with many local people and of course all the visitors to Weymouth who have helped us create a little institution. From Brian and our hard working team and our summer band ‘Replay’. Thank you!!

The three guides are the Good Pub Guide, The Sawdays Guide and the AA Pub Guide…..we are still working on the Good Beer guide hoping they will recognise our commitment to real ale.

It was a lovely day weather wise and lots of folk turned up to remember the 70th anniversary of the D-Day Normandy landings that took place on 6th June 1944. Fancy dress was worn and old wartime songs were sung as people danced in Hope Square. An old police station was built in the square along with recruitment offices for wartime personnel!! The authenticity of the uniforms and the effort made was excellent.

The sun shone for Dorset Seafood Festival 2014 where we unveiled our outside ‘barrel’ bar. There was a great atmosphere in and around the pub. It was perfect weather for a nice cold Pimms and Lemonade.

Each day we enjoyed Replay who did a great job at getting the crowds dancing in the square. We were also treated to a performance from the Fishwives who entertained us with their classic songs!

Dorset Seafood Festival is continuing to grow each year and is a great event to visit next year if you missed 2014!

A massive Thank You to all the team for working really hard over this busy weekend.

Every June (normally the first weekend after the May Whitsun bank holiday weekend) Hope Square plays host to many traditional and modern folk bands and individuals playing to a large and enthusiastic audience on the main stage of the event. The quayside too has acts either alfresco or tucked in to the corners of pubs doing their thing. A great time was had by all and its free! The event takes up Saturday and Sunday and this year 2014 had to be the best year yet. From all at the Red Lion we would like to thank all who supported the event and here’s to next year!

REG MEUROSS (with Jess Vincent) – Album Launch.
O’Dalaigh’s Ceilidh Band
Alex Roberts
The Bow legged Skeeter
Lazybird
Shadrack Tye
Fabian Holland
JC and Angelina
Tinderbox
the Grimaldi Band
Darren Hodge
Megan Linford
Jesters
Joe Butcher
Victorian Barbers
The Flowing
Wight Hot Pipes
Dorset Wrecks
Alan Kirkpatrick and John Shaw
The Stone Donkey pilots
Ange Hardy
Gaz Brookfield
Devils Rejects
The infamous Wild Rover set
Unprepared Jug Band
Moonshine – Appalachian
La Rooster
Weymouth Ukeleans

After the amazing August of 2012 with the sailing Olympics and all the joy and pride the sailing brought to Weymouth…not to mention all those visitors, we could be excused thinking a quieter year was ahead of us in 2013!!

The winter was long and harsh and we really were thinking ‘here we go again’ another summer without any sun!!! But we were proved so wrong. Not since 2006 has it been so lovely and the Red Lion with its 140 seats outside enjoyed many visitors too.

We had said when we planned our events and music outside let’s hope for a warm sunny summer and we managed to get one. Seafood festival was the biggest yet having been cancelled on the Saturday in 2012 because of gales and flooding!!

The good news is that this was the year our landlord Brian bought a boat!! Maybe that’s what has changed the weather………let’s hope so.

Big thanks to all the customers that visited the Red Lion in 2013 and enjoyed our food and drink and we look forward to seeing you all in 2014!!

If you check our events page you will see all the music dates and big events as well as Bank holiday dates for 2014 so here’s to a mild winter and another great summer in 2014!!

See you soon..