BII Licensee of the Year Award 2026 Winners are Eamonn England & Arina Piskunova of The Windsor Castle

The BII Licensee of the Year competition is widely regarded as the most rigorous and hard-fought award for individual licensee operators in the UK. Since January 2026, operators from across the UK have been whittled down from a field of over 800 nominations, all vying to become the next BII Licensee of the Year winner.

Following a final judging day at Sky Head Quarters on Monday 15th June, where each of the six finalists faced three panels of industry experts and operators, Eamonn and Arina were named as the champions!

Excelling across all areas of the competition, they faced incredibly tough competition from the five other finalists, all incredibly passionate and talented licensees, but took the top spot, with the judges loving their collaboration, approach to their team and community, and forward thinking to secure their business for the future.

Eamonn and Arina were crowned winner in front of a packed room of almost 900 colleagues and industry friends at this year’s BII Summer Event, hosted on Tuesday 16th June, at the The HAC, City Central, London.

Steve Alton, Chief Executive of the BII commented: “I’d like to offer a massive congratulations to the brilliant Eamonn and Arina, on behalf of myself and the whole team here at the BII, including our fantastic judges. This is the most rigorous and intense competition in our industry, so I would also like to congratulate our other wonderful finalists on this incredible achievement. Despite the challenges our sector continually faces, we saw incredible commitment, talent and attitude from all our finalists, proving once again how much the great British pub has to offer in every community across the UK.

“Eamonn and Arina’s leadership, innovation and dedication as relatively new operators in the pub sector are simply inspirational. They represent everything that is uniquely brilliant about our industry, and we can’t wait to share the excellence and experience from them, and all our finalists, over the coming year.”