John and Sue Rudden with their team at 5 Grassington House Hotel have achieved a coveted Five Star Gold Award from the authority body Quality in Tourism.

Created by Visit England to standardise quality assessment in the hospitality industry, Quality in Tourism combines the former National Tourist Boards, AA and RAC awards under one new scheme for measuring the quality of accommodation facilities and services of more than 23 000 establishments across the country.

The internationally acclaimed Five Star Gold Award, given to 5 Grassington House in their category, Restaurant with Rooms, is the tourism industry’s highest accolade and comes just one year after the couple took over the business.

Only eleven weeks after opening in 2008 the team was awarded a Silver Award, itself an amazing achievement after such a short time. In keeping with their determination to constantly improve and be the best, they have now attained the 2009 Gold Award following stringent scrutiny from the national professional assessor.

Quality in Tourism sent a mystery guest to stay overnight at the hotel to sample and assess every aspect of the business from booking and checking in, the interior standard of bedrooms and public areas and the quality of the dinner, room service and breakfast cuisine, through to checking out.

The hotel was awarded a 100% score for Hospitality and the assessor’s report summary said “Standards of cuisine were once again superb. Well deserving of the Gold Award”. Extensive refurbishment work carried out since the previous assessment and new high quality soft furnishings and fittings were noted and praised, as was the excellent standard of housekeeping with “obvious attention to detail”.

Originally from Skipton, proprietor John Rudden is no stranger to the rigours of the award process. Having trained at some of the country’s top restaurants including The Arkle at the Chester Grosvenor with Simon Radley and the The Angel at Hetton with Dennis Watkins, he established the White Hart at Lydgate with Charles Briereley as one of the most talked about culinary hot spots of the North West and has won Chef of the Year three times. 5 Grassington House was nominated Newcomer of the Year 2009 by both Northern Hospitality and Yorkshire Life.

John’s wife, Sue, manages front of house at 5 Grassington House and says “We eat, breathe and sleep for this place and the team see that and wanted this award for us as much as we did – we couldn’t have done it without them. We inherited the staff when we took on the business and it is a credit to all of them that they have worked so hard to create the supreme level of service required to win this Gold Award.” Andrew Jackson, chairman of Grassington Hub, a new body formed to promote and unite the community groups of the village commented "I'm delighted to see them achieve this standard; it's a well-deserved tribute to their hard work and imaginative flair. It's also a shot in the arm for Grassington as they are benefiting both locals and visitors alike.”