Culture

1,000 Trades: Pub of the year

Various winners at the 2025 BAB awards held at Nortons Digbeth. Image from BAB.

Birmingham’s pub of the year is the 1000 Trades. 

The Jewellery Quarter watering hole scooped the accolade this week at the 2025 Birmingham Association of Bartenders (BAB) Awards, now in its 20th year.

Two-hundred pub and bar workers piled into Norton Digbeth for the event to honour the ‘heroes of hospitality.’

Stirchley’s Attic Brew Co was handed the ‘Best Local Brewer or Distiller’ award.

Attic also landed ‘local drinks product’ of the year for its Intuition pale ale.

This rounds off a good week for Attic, who also made headlines for having benefitted from government grants to cut their carbon emissions and energy bills.

The Birmingham Association of Bartenders was founded by Carl Hawkins and Julian Rose-Gibbs in March 2005. 

Julian said: “Reaching 20 years is surreal. All that time ago Carl and I never dreamed of this.” 

Singer-songwriter Jack Banting entertaining at the 2025 BAB awards. Image from BAB.

Full list of BAB 2025 awards:

Pub of the Year – 1000 Trades

Local Brewer or Distiller – Attic Brew Co

Drinks Specialist – Loki Wine

Local Drinks Product – Attic – Intuition Pale Ale

Experiential Venue – NQ64

Best Live Music Venue – Hare & Hounds

LGBTQ+ Venue – Missing

Hotel Bar – Madeleine at The Grand

Restaurant Bar – Harborne Kitchen

Wine Experience – Loki

Independent Cocktail Bar – Passing Fancies

Venue Design – La Bellezza

Brand Ambassador – Dan Upton

Events Company – Birmingham Cocktail Weekend

Drinks Menu – Couch

Cocktail of the Year – Golden Harmony – Harborne Kitchen

The Rising Star – Kimberly Knott – The Anchor

Bar Manager of the Year – Gina Underhill – Harborne Kitchen

Drinks & Hospitality Personality – Katie Rouse – Couch

BAB People’s Choice – Laura McEwan – Bite Your Brum

Bhanu Dhir

Columnist
Bhanu is a former charity CEO and has more than 40 years of experience transforming businesses. He is an ambassador for Acorns Children's Hospice.

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