The British Institute of Innkeeping (BII) has revealed the 12 semi-finalists in the 2026 Licensee of the Year competition, staged in partnership with Sky Business.
Selected from a field of more than 800 nominees, the semi-finalists have reached this far based on their exceptional entry forms, social media and web presence audits, as well as mystery customer visits, courtesy of Proinsight.
Head judges Amanda Hemming and Ashley McCarthy will be making their way across the country over the next few weeks to meet all of the semi-finalists in person and to experience their businesses first hand.
“Our Licensee of the Year award is the most prestigious and hard-fought award, showing the excellence in our sector,” said Steve Alton, chief executive of the BII.”Our semi-finalists are of a fantastic standard. We have some familiar faces returning to the competition in 2026, as well as some brand-new operators to the LOYA process.
“We are proud that the awards process this year, more than ever, is offering a value-added experience to all those involved, with business insight and the chance to evaluate your business available at every stage. In addition to the mystery customer visits, facilitated by Proinsight, we have this year again been supported by useyourlocal, who have been promoting our entrants to consumers across the whole of the UK.
“With Cask Marque auditing cellars, in addition to the visits from our head judges, Amanda and Ashley, the competition this year will provide more value to contestants than ever before.”
Read about the semi-finalists here.
