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Universities at Medway Students' Association wins national Best Bar None prize

Universities at Medway Students' Association (UMSA) has won the national Best Bar None award for maintaining the highest operational and safety standards at its bars.

After a rigorous assessment, UMSA won the national award with an impressive score of 86 out of a possible 100. The win means that the national award stays in Kent for the second year in a row, after Kent Union won the award for the Canterbury campus last year.

UMSA provides representation, activities and services to students at the shared campus in Medway and is managed by Kent Union.

The awards were presented at a special ceremony on 18 March at the Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool by Heston Blumenthal, celebrity chef and television presenter.

UMSA President Joel Kelly, a second year Law student with the University of Kent, said: 'We're absolutely delighted to be the national winners. We're proud of the fact that UMSA offers safe, inclusive and socially responsible bars on the Medway campus and we're glad that this has been recognised through the Best Bar None scheme.

'We want to build on this success and continue to develop a student experience that exceeds the expectations of our members and promotes Medway as a great place to study.'

Daniel Palmer, Director of UMSA, said: 'We're thrilled to have been recognised as leaders in providing safe and socially responsible activities in the higher education sector. Since UMSA was founded in 2005, we have worked quickly to try and establish ourselves as the model for delivering excellent services to students of multiple institutions and we see this as an important step towards achieving that.'

UMSA also won the award for the South region. Other regional winners included Anglia Ruskin Students' Union (London and East Anglia), Loughborough Students' Union (Midlands and Wales), University of Teesside Students' Union (North East) and Keele University Students' Union (North West and Scotland).

The scheme has been endorsed by a number of stakeholders, including the Greater Manchester Police, and is sponsored by Bacardi Brand-Foreman Brands, Diageo and Coca-Cola.

Contact: N.J.Ellwood@kent.ac.uk

Story published at 11:00am 3 April 2008