Column: Simon Cotton, Managing Director of the HRH Group - Top Tips!

they only need look at the annual Harrogate Hospitality & Tourism Awards and see how the excitement is once again building for this year’s awards night which is now just over five weeks away.

​The shortlist was announced last month and as has become tradition, all the tickets to the event were snapped up within days and the event is once again a complete sell out with a waiting list now set up for any last minute cancellations.

And if I had a pound for every time someone asks me what this year’s theme will be I’d be a very rich man…

you’ll all just have to wait until the night.

David and I have been busy scheming and planning behind the scenes to make sure those lucky people with a ticket have a lot of fun again this year.

Sorry to all those who couldn’t get a ticket,

so my top tip for next year is… book early!

Talking of tips, some of you may have read in one of my previous columns my support for a change in the law as to how businesses manage staff tips.

A bill that will prevent employers from making deductions from staff tips has cleared the House of Lords and will receive Royal Assent to become law.

This went through the House of Lords last week so should become law very soon now.

Most businesses already allocate tips fairly to their staff, but, regrettably, a minority don’t.

That gives the staff, often the least well-paid ones in the hospitality sector –

waiting staff for instance, the opportunity to insist that they are given the service charge that many of us pay whenever we go to a restaurant, so they get the tips rather than the money going to the profits of perhaps a big company.

This doesn’t happen that much but does happen a bit, and we need to make sure it does not happen at all.

This law is vital to support our industry.

The new tipping legislation will mean that operators must pay teams 100 per cent of tips.

Making it illegal to withhold any money from workers.

So, good news for the front line workers.

My final tip this week is to get down to Piccolino’s and see their lovely new bar.

I was fortunate to be invited to celebrate the opening of it last week and the food and drinks, along with the service, was all first class.

So I’ll definitely be popping back in again soon and highly recommend a visit.

Well I’m off to enjoy the Bank Holiday weekend and the Kings Coronation.

I hope it’s a great weekend for everyone and whatever you’re up to, I hope it’s fun and you manage to enjoy the town’s great hospitality venues and above all, stay safe.