Becketts celebrates year of award wins and business growth

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Becketts in Southsea has won six awards in total in 2021 alone.

The new accolades add to its existing portfolio of three awards, giving it a total of nine wins over three years.

Its most recent was the Prestige award for Boutique Hotel of the Year.

Terence Carvalho, general manager and Jack Sencherey-Evans, head chef at Becketts Southsea

Others include three from LUXlife magazine, which named it Venue of the Year for Hampshire, the Most Vibrant British Restaurant in Portsmouth and also awarded it with the Customer Service Excellence award.

The venue also took away two awards at the Southern Enterprise Awards, being crowned Hospitality Enterprise of the Year and Hospitality Management and Team of the Year for 2021.

General manager Terence Carvalho said the awards are testament to the incredible year Becketts has had, despite being closed for much of it.

He said: ‘Considering we were closed for most of this year and a lot of the year before, Becketts has bounced back and probably come back even stronger than before.

The team at Becketts Southsea. (back l-r) Jack Sencherey-Evans, head chef, Ben Taylor-Smith, junior sous chef and Charlie Akehurst, chef de partie, with (front l-r) Kealan Blenkinsop, assistant manager, Soraya Parker, owner, and Terence Carvalho, general manager.

‘We’ve won loads of awards, been on TV, had celebrities come and visit us, opened up a second venue – it’s been one of our best years yet.’

The restaurant and hotel appeared on Channel 4’s Four in a Bed earlier this year, giving it a huge boost in business and attracting lots of interest from people in Portsmouth, as well as further afield.

Southsea hotel and restaurant Becketts inundated with bookings after appears on ...

Terence said that the success is down to the hardworking team.

He said: ‘We’ve got such an incredible team that work so hard, despite challenges being thrown at them and having to adapt to ever-changing guidelines and restrictions. The kitchen team are amazing and continue to deliver the best food in the city and are always levelling up our offering.

‘I’ve got so much pride in our young front-of-house team, who have shown their resilience in getting through Covid. They’re a team which has stayed together for two years and additions to our staffing who have backed me and stayed with us despite the uncertainty and mixed messages during the pandemic from the government. The success really is down to them.’

Terence is keen to get Becketts involved in community and charity projects throughout the city.

It has just joined up with Final Straw Solent as a charity partner and has joined the Armed Forces Covenant to offer personnel 10 per cent off at the restaurant and hotel, adding to its existing NHS staff discount.