THERE is not long left until the Hereford Times publishes the shortlist of the Hereford BID 2017 Business Awards.

The awards were launched in June to recognise the hard work and dedication of the members of the Business Improvement District, which includes retailers and businesses.

And as well as recognising the members, it highlights the work of the BID, which strives to make Hereford city centre a better place to visit and shop.

The judges have studied the nominations in each category and chosen a shortlist, which will be published online this week and in next week's newspaper.

Each week for the past few weeks we have been highlighting, at random, some of the entries.

This week we look at the Hotel, restaurant, pub or cafe of the year award and turn our attention to The Lichfield Vaults, a pub in Church Street.

Landlord Andy Loizou said the pub is the only pub in Herefordshire that serves Greek food and there is a choice of six real ales - all in a traditional setting.

Andy said: "I would like to add, as a city centre pub we are very much in the front line when it comes to serving tourists. Our customer service is renowned and our TripAdvisor ratings are second to none.

"When it comes to food hygiene we have been here for nine years and have never failed to get five star ratings - the highest rating every year.

"We have only recently started serving food in the evenings, due to popular demand and indeed have added more vegetarian options with a new Mediterranean tapas style menu.

"We are also in the process of starting our own takeaway delivery service so people will be able to phone up to order Greek food and have it delivered to their door.

"As a traditional pub with oak panels and exposed brickwork the pub appeals to all.

Andy added: "I have lost count of how many photos have been taken of both the internal and external of the Lichfield Vaults, situated in Church Street and indeed we have been featured in TV crime series as well as the street featured in antiques shows."

Andy and his wife, Lesley, have been trading at the pub since 2008. He said: "We ensure all our staff are trained to my standards, in fact my wife and I train all our staff ourselves.

"This is both in food hygiene and customer service. We are both hard taskmasters where this is concerned."

The pub was named second best cask pub of the year in all of Heineken estate of which there are more than 1,200 pubs country-wide.