A COCKTAIL bar can claim to be one of the UK's mixing masters of the year after winning a hat trick of industry awards.

Raoul's in Walton Street, Jericho, has just been named Best Neighbourhood Bar at the prestigious UK bar awards held in London, and boasts a championship winning cocktail maker.

The Neighbourhood Bar award recognises bars situated away from city centres which serve a local population in predominantly residential areas.

In September, bar manager Tim Fitz Gibbon was crowned cocktail king of the world when he represented the United Kingdom at the unofficial World Cocktail Champtionships in New Zealand.

And Mr Fitz Gibbon's shaking and stirring skills were acknowledged closer to home last week when he was selected as one of the country's top ten bartenders to go on a week long cocktail trip to Kentucky, in the USA.

The trip culminated with a competition between the ten cocktail makers, but unfortunately the bartender was unable to repeat his World Championship success but his 'Thoroughbred Punch' creation made with Woodford Reserve (bourbon), apple juice and cloves still rated highly with the judges.

Raoul's owner Matthew Davies said it was nice to be recognised after years of hard work.

He said: "It is a build up of at least five years previous hard work. It takes a long time to be recognised outside London. I spoke to some guys from a spirits company last night and they said how well we've done to break the mould.

"The judges all said our win was down to our service, the quality of the ingredients and the variety of drinks we produce. It is fantastic to win and a really good reflection of the staff who are dedicated and have real expertise."

Mr Fitz Gibbon won his first prize at the world cocktail mixing championships with his unique hot cocktail entitled Friar Briar's Posset Sack, which included cinamon and vodka and was heated with a red hot poker.

The 25-year-old said it had been a fantastic 12 months. He said: "It has been a really good year, absolutely fantastic for me and the bar. With going away to first New Zealand and then America, all the guys at work are saying it is about time I knuckle down and do some work, but to be fair for the previous four years I only took five days off a year, so I think it's fair enough."