Last night, Anglian Country Inns celebrated being one of the happiest places to work in the UK as they were named in the top 25 businesses in CODE Hospitality’s Happiest Place to Work 2025 awards. Out of over 450 hospitality businesses, ACI made the top 25 after a rigorous judging panel and feedback from the teams across the business.  

The CODE Hospitality awards, operated by the owners of The Good Food Guide, were announced last night at Bubala in Kings Cross. They recognise the hospitality businesses that are the most people focused and progressive, creating excellent working environments for employees including comprehensive training, strong staff motivation and benefits, and a clear and meaningful career path for their employees.

The judges were impressed by the ‘recognition’ team members received at work and said “(ACI) are not afraid to think outside the box when it comes to perks and awards. They’re not just doing what everyone else is doing”. This recognition for Anglian Country Inns comes off the back of winning Best Employer at the Publican Awards earlier this year and reflects the company’s commitment to their teams and ambition to be one of the best employers in hospitality.

Will Chew, Head of People and Culture, Anglian Country Inns said: 
“We set out every day to make people happy and that includes our people just as much as our customers. It means the world to us that CODE has recognised ACI as one of the happiest places to work in hospitality and more importantly that our wonderful teams really enjoy being a part of our ACI family.”

James Nye, Managing Director, Anglian Country Inns said: 
“This is really great for our teams and our business. Happiness is such an important part of running any successful business, and it’s clear that if your team are happy, then it’s much more likely your customers will be happy. To be up there with some of the best in hospitality is testament to everyone in the ACI family who work hard every day to look after the people around them.” 

Howard Nye, Operations Director, Anglian Country Inns said: 
“We do what is right for our people first and that tends to work out really well for us as a business operationally too in the long run. Hospitality is, after all, the ultimate people business and so this award is a really special one for us.”