BT Sport celebrates sporting pub landlord
First East of England winner gets visit from Jake Humphrey
BT Sport is celebrating pub landlords across the UK who go the extra mile to create an amazing sporting experience for their customers and are rewarding them with their very own life-sized statue.
Launching this week, the BT Manager of the Month award celebrates landlords who make their pub more than a pub, highlighting their role in connecting sport with the community.
To kick-start the awards three statues will be unveiled across the UK, at The Gardener’s Arms (Norwich), The Tollington (London) and The Chequers (Lutterworth), with Jake Humphrey, Martin Keown and Robbie Savage unveiling the statue of each respective landlord.
Phil Cutter, pub landlord of The Gardener’s Arms in Norwich, is the first East of England winner of the BT Sport manager of the month. A statue now stands outside Phil’s pub.
The Norwich pub stood out from the competition as Phil Cutter came up with the idea of having TVs in the toilets so that fans never miss a second of the match.
Phil, said “Today has been really fantastic! After working at the pub for over 30 years since the age of 15, I have been immortalised, not for the 1,000,000 pints of beer that I've sold, or long service....but for having TV's in the toilets!' It’s a real honour to have been selected to be one of the first recipients of BT Sports Manager of the month award. Sport is a large part of what we offer at the pub, and in a time when people are using social media to interact with friends, sport is a way to bring people together, and enjoy a visit to the pub.
The sculpture has already become a real talking point in Norwich, and hopefully, we'll have punters coming in to see me.....which they can do, even if I'm not in the building.
All the winning pubs stood out from the competition thanks to the uniqueness of their venues, whether it be painting the pub to match the local team’s colours, TVs in the toilets, or getting the players from their local team in after the game.
The search for the next winners is already underway, with BT Sport inviting people to nominate their landlords, or for landlords to nominate themselves by tweeting @BTSportsBars using #BTMOTM. BT Sport will be looking for landlords that go above and beyond to bring sport to their customers. This could include the viewing experience or wider community projects that get people involved in sport.
BT Sport will select one landlord a month until June 2018 and each will be presented a trophy by a local sporting personality and a brand new 4K TV for their venue.
Bruce Cuthbert, Director Commercial Customers, said: “Pubs are at the heart of their communities and sport is a fantastic way of bringing people together. The BT Manager of the Month gives us the opportunity to recognise the landlords up and down the country who go that extra mile for their customers and their community. If you have a landlord who you think deserves recognition then get tweeting @BTSportsBars using #BTMOTM.”
For more information: www.btsport.com/business
