Faces & Places

York's Monkbar wins top employer title The Best Western Monkbar hotel in York was named Employer of the Year for 2004 at the recent York Hospitality Awards for Excellence, held at York racecourse.The awards acknowledge the best employees and employers in the city's hospitality industry, and the ceremony was attended by 400 guests from local hotels, bars and restaurants.Contenders for the Employer of the Year award, which is sponsored by law firm Denison Till, are nominated by employees. Monkbar hotel director June Nelsey is pictured with the rose bowl prize, surrounded by her team.

Tameside council turns up trumps for Hospitality Assured Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council has become the first local authority in the Greater Manchester area to achieve the HCIMA-led Hospitality Assured accreditation.Tameside was recognised for the quality of its primary school catering, and has become only the eighth local authority in the country to achieve this status.The Tameside catering staff provide services to 78 primary schools in the area.Also pictured are Tameside's primary catering manager, Barbara Hulme, and Tameside's civic mayor, Councillor Margaret Downs.

Novotel Edinburgh Centre finds next generation in nearby school The Novotel Edinburgh Centre hotel entertained pupils from the neighbouring Tollcross Primary School at the start of this month, taking the youngsters on a fun, fact-filled tour of the property.After a talk from front desk manager Irina Bobrowski, human resources manager Kimberley Cant Murray and revenue manager Debbie Russell, the pupils were given a tour of the hotel, including some of the bedrooms, and the restaurant and conference facilities, and gained a real insight into the work that goes on behind the scenes.Murray is pictured with the pupils and their teacher, Laura Young.