Since launching our first Kent & Medway Food & Drink Awards at the end of last year, we have been flooded with nominations from readers who want to give their favourite hospitality hotspots a shout-out. The awards, presented by KM Media Group and sponsored by Café Nucleus, aim to celebrate the area’s rising stars, industry trendsetters and unsung food heroes. We will be sharing the names of the finalists in each category next week but, ahead of the big reveal, we can now announce the shortlist for the Pub/Bar of the Year, sponsored by Lumina Energy and judged by Paul Pierce. There have been lo…