Arbor voted the greenest restaurant in the UK for second year in a row!

Arbor, the 2 AA-rosette restaurant at the Green House Hotel in Bournemouth, has been recognised for the second year in a row as the most environmentally-friendly eaterie in the UK by the prestigious Sustainable Restaurant Association.

The SRA’s “Food Made Good” awards, now in their fifth year, honour restaurants that realise there’s a lot more that goes into making a great meal than just a handful of ingredients.

In the words of the SRA itself: “We Brits now enjoy an incredible 8 billion meals a year which we haven’t had to cook. More than ever, we are curious to know where our food came from, how it was produced, and whether our enjoyment of it is at the expense of others.

“Food Made Good is here to let you indulge in your passion for dining out without having to check your principles in at the cloakroom. We assess restaurants, cafés and caterers for their sourcing, impact on society and environment and let you know how they are doing with our simple star rating. Think of them as the Michelin stars of sustainability, rewarding excellence for people and planet.”

Arbor has been an SRA “champion”, with the maximum three star rating, since 2013.

The “Food Made Good award for Environment” 2016 was presented to the Green House Hotel by SRA president Raymond Blanc at a star-studded event in London attended by Jamie Oliver, and the Radio 4 Food Programme’s Sheila Dillon, for “extraordinary accomplishments in the last year [that] have driven progression in the industry and demonstrated that all food can be made delicious, ethical and sustainable”.

Winning the SRA award in 2015 was already a big deal for us, a recognition of the hard work we put in to ensure our environmental principles feed through into everything we do. Often dubbed as the greenest hotel in Britain, Bournemouth’s Green House Hotel came into beginning following a £5 million eco-regeneration of our beautiful Victorian villa back in 2011. No corner was cut in creating a property that could properly call itself an eco-hotel (though we rarely do!). For example:

• Around 90% of the hotel’s electricity is generated on site using a combined heat and power unit and solar electricity.
• Low energy technology is used throughout, including LED lighting and dimmers, sensored lighting within the public areas of the hotel and timers and sensors on external lighting.
• Our in-house water filtration and bottling unit helps to reduce the environmental impacts associated with bottled water.
• Our kitchens use energy-efficient hot fill dishwashers and glass washers and low-energy induction burners for cooking.
• We harvest rainwater and use it to irrigate the hotel grounds.
• We do all our own laundry in-house so we can minimise the environmental impact.

But there is far more to it than that: the SRA judging process is incredibly rigorous. It looks at 14 key areas of sustainability including using local and seasonal produce to support British food business, reduce haulage costs and the environmental impact of transport; providing equal opportunities, training and clear policies to keep employees happy and productive; and monitoring, managing and reducing waste, including food waste.

So to win the Food Made Good Award for Environment for the second year in a row is a huge honour for Bournemouth’s Green House Hotel. It is amazing to have such ongoing recognition from our sustainable heroes within the industry.

More than anything, it reflects the fact we don’t rest on our laurels: we are constantly looking for ways to reduce our environmental impacts. And that isn’t going to stop any time soon – we’re going for the triple!

To find out more or book a table at the greenest restaurant in the UK, call us on 01202 498900 or go online here.