Desert Island Pubs – Simon Emeny

Beer Insider is pleased to bring you a new monthly column, supported by Black Sheep Brewery, involving leading figures in pubs and brewing, along with the industry’s wider eco-system, revealing the pubs that have meant the most to them over their careers.

These are their Desert Island Pubs. To add to their difficulties choosing their favourite venues they are also being asked to select the single beer they would take with them to the Desert Island.

Simon Emeny, chief executive, Fuller Smith & Turner PLC

1. Earliest memory of a pub you can recall?

Pubs have played a huge role in my life since my early days. Like most people who grew up in the 70s and early 80s, I do remember being left in the pub garden – which in those days was really just a couple of wooden benches on a patch of grass – with a sad looking glass of Coke and a packet of Golden Wonder crisps. But the garden at least had a good view – as it was The Swan at Staines, which even then was a Fuller’s pub, and I used to go there every Friday and every Sunday lunchtime with my Dad. I can’t ever remember thinking “one day, I’d like to be responsible for this pub” – but that is definitely where my pub journey started.

2. Most inspirational pub to your career?

It wasn’t so much a pub, but my career in hospitality started when I was studying economics at Southampton Uni. I ran the bar in my hall of residence, putting on events and organising gigs. It was a great time – and definitely gave me a taste of the industry that I would end up spending my whole career in.

3. Your current local?

I am lucky to have a really fantastic local Fuller’s pub – The Tap on the Line in Kew. A great place to chill out on your way into or out of London as it is right on the platform at Kew Gardens station. Despite the frenetic activity of people embarking and disembarking on the District and Mildmay lines, it is a real oasis – wonderful food, chilled atmosphere, a great team under the stewardship of Toby, our general manager. Perfect.

4. Your favourite pub?

That’s easy – it has to be The Half Moon at Herne Hill, for so many reasons. Now, it is everything a perfect pub should be – whatever you go there for, it delivers. Quiet pint? Perfect in the amazingly restored Victorian main bar. Dinner with the family? Perfect in the light and airy dining room. Son’s 18th birthday party? A fantastic function space with its own bar. Summer lunch with friends? Couldn’t be better than in the wonderful garden. And on top of all that, there are 12 amazing bedrooms if you need to stay over too. It’s got great food, a really good range of beers and a fantastic team.

However, one of the other reasons it is my favourite pub is the incredible journey we went through to get there. The pub had been boarded up for years following a flood and had been known, in its faded past, as a live music venue. We had a real fight with those who wanted to live in the past – who ran a very vicious campaign against us – despite the fact we wanted to get the pub reopened. There was a handful of very noisy, very powerful campaigners demanding we put the music back in – but we knew the future of the pub lied in its ability to service the whole community.

Despite the vitriol, we stuck to our guns – and when we opened, it was amazing. This beautiful, Victorian, iconic, classic pub, returned to the community and delivering all things to all people. Within the first week, even our harshest critics conceded that we had achieved something amazing. It’s one of the proudest moments in my career and all credit to the team at Fuller’s that were at the coalface and to Matt Dutson, who is still the manager at the pub, and who picked up the Griffin Trophy for our pub of the year in 2019, just two years after opening. If you’ve never been – it really is worth a visit.

5. The pub you’d like to take to the island?

That has to be The Dove at Hammersmith. If I could only ever look at one view, and enjoy one pub moment, it would be sitting on the balcony at The Dove, with a beautiful pint of London Pride, watching the comings and goings on the Thames and with Hammersmith Bridge in the background. Perfect!

6 .The beer you’d take to the desert island?

London Pride. As a proud Londoner and with a 30-year career at Fuller’s, what else could it possibly be?

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