Aylesbury pub makes finals of prestigious awards

Aylesbury publican, Pete Donne has become one of a handful of pub operators from throughout the country to make it through to the finals of the Great British Pub Awards.

Pete, who runs the King and Queen pub in Wendover has beaten off stiff competition to become a finalist in the Best Newcomer category of the prestigious annual awards.

His achievement comes after two rounds of vigorous judging and is now one of just five other publicans nationwide to have made it this far. The King and Queen will now be personally inspected by judges before the winner is announced on Thursday 7 September at the London Hilton on Park Lane.

Commenting on the accolade, Pete said: “I’m thrilled to have got this far and I’m looking forward to showing the judges what makes the King and Queen so special. I took over the pub in February 2016 having been in the music business for 35 years running specialist record stores in the UK and New York. Since then, with the support of my partner, Shelley, we’ve put all our energy into developing the King and Queen into a great local with a quirky entertainment programme, warm welcome and great food.”

Regional Operations Director for Punch, Iain Rippon, said: “The Great British Pub Awards is well known for having one of the most rigorous judging processes in the pub sector. Only the very best bars and pubs in the country get through to the final and I congratulate Pete on this great achievement.”