Two Stratford bartenders reached regional championships in their field after only a year in their jobs.

Both Jamie Dennington, 19, and Dan Webb, 21, work as cocktail experts at TGI Friday’s in Westfield Stratford City but they competed against each other on Tuesday September 4 in the southern final of the UK Bartender Championships in Mill Hill.

Showing off their flairing skills alongside 15 other bartenders, three of them fought for a place in the TGI Friday’s National Championships in Manchester in November.

Unfortunately, the boys did not quite make it into the top three but they are eager to try again next year.

Dan said “We were so pleased to make it as far as we did, to have two bartenders from a restaurant which is not even a year old is amazing.

“We’ll be back again next year and aiming for the UK final.”