Desert Island Pubs – Simon Wilkinson, board director at Evolv Collection and TGI Fridays
1. Earliest memory of a pub you can recall?
My parents were pub people, every night after my Dad finished work circa 5:20pm we went for two hours pre the evening meal. Most pubs did not allow children in so me and my older brothers spent many an hour in a car with a bottle of Coke and packet of crisps.
The first memory inside a pub was in The Lidget in Great Harwood near Blackburn. Racing was on the TV in a smoke-filled tap room with men playing crib and/or shove ha’penny. I remember having my school uniform on, including shorts, and following my Dad weaving our way through a packed bar to an area at the back where regular customers’ children could (illegally) sit. As we pushed past the bar and a yappy terrier dog, my Dad asked me did that dog bite you, and I replied ‘no’ and carried on walking to the seats. When I sat down my Mum panicked asking what I had to done to my leg, unbeknown to me the dog had bitten me and my leg was pouring blood. I never felt a thing (adrenaline of being allowed inside the scared walls perhaps). Anyway, the visit was cut short as I was whisked off to hospital for a tetanus jab! My second visit was more pleasantly memorable because after weeks of nagging I was surprised by my Dad who had tickets to watch Man City in the 1976 League Cup Final.
2. Most inspirational pub to your career?
Back in the early 2000’s I had the best job in hospitality – area manager for 18 Scottish & Newcastle pubs in Knightsbridge, Kensington, Chelsea and St. James. I could walk all 18 in a day, and over time got to know most regulars in every pub. To pick one would be unfair, but if pushed the refurbishment at The Tattershalls Tavern in Knightsbridge was instrumental in beating budget , earning a bonus and a promotion, so I would say that one.
The 5-1 defeat of Germany by England on a Saturday night was an amazing evening as was the Friday lunchtime defeat of Argentina in the 2002 World Cup and I remember S&N pubs had a £1 million sales uplift nationally that Friday. A close second and third would be The Hereford Arms on Gloucester Road (48% EBITDA a conversion) and The Plumbers Arms, Belgravia, infamous for Lord Lucan.
3. Your current local?
In my village I don’t have one specific local, however in London I would say the Stonegate pub The Leinster Arms , near Paddington/Lancaster Gate. There are a core of eccentric locals and a healthy number of tourists making it an eclectic mix. Unlike the big two London pub companies, where you need a mortgage for a couple of pints, The Leinster Arms is reasonable in terms of price. It has a great landlord in Steve (who was a trainee for me 20-plus years ago) and the staff are always chatty. I had a very simple rule when I was in the pub business interviewing potential managers, if I would not go for a beer with them, then the customers would not either so they were not getting hired. There is a pub in my home village, where the manager never works evenings and does not chat, it’s purely a job for them and hospitality is a way of life, albeit with a healthy work/life balance.
4. Your favourite pub?
One of my favourite pubs in the UK is The Railway in Hale, it’s a Robinson’s tenancy. Apart from having a well-kept pint of Dizzy Blond, it serves no food so it’s a real drinkers pub. It has sport on numerous TV’s, from around the world. What makes it unique is the mix of clientele, there are multi-millionaires, labourers, manual workers, old , young and families as well as a large Irish community who frequent the tap room bar (that’s by invite-only), yet everyone gets on and it’s very friendly. It is always busy and you never know who you will meet and chat with, especially on days like Chester Races or the All Ireland Final Day (a ticketed event with queues forming at sunrise). It is a throw-back to a bygone era of community pubs. Alan the landlord commutes from Scandinavia! Say no more.
5. The pub you’d like to take to the island?
That’s a tricky question, when you get to my age you have amazing memories of many pubs from all the different stages of your life. On a desert Island you would need to be entertained by lots of characters as well as great food and drink. I lived in the Trough of Bowland in the early 1980’s in a hamlet called Whitewell, where The Inn at Whitewell dominates the beautiful landscape. Nowadays it is an award winning hotel, gastro pub, wedding venue etcetera (I did also get married there).
However, in the summer of 1982, it was just a local down the hill from my family home, and the now proprietor Charles Bowman was a childhood friend. We played on the moors, tickled salmon in the river and generally hung around during long summer holidays to pass the boredom. The pub had a retired major who went everyday at 6pm on the dot, drank Whitbread beer from a barrel glass, and always sat in the same stool at the bar. The pub handyman was called Ralph and Charlie’s parents Richard and Pam ran the place. Think more Basil and Sybil Fawlty, meant as the best compliment. Best of all for a teenage boy, the gents toilets walls were covered in a wall paper made from cuttings of The Sun’s page 3!
We were all there the fateful day when torrential rain caused a landslide and the kitchen disappeared into the River Hodder. The newspaper cutting from that day adorns the newly refurbished Inn’s walls. So I would transport the inn from that time and era to a desert island, it would also mean my parents were still alive and we could share another drink together with my brothers as a family.
6. The beer (unlimited supply) you’d take to the desert island?
Again tricky, but if we take The Tetley’s Best from The Fox and Hounds in Bramhope near Leeds circa 1988 or the Boddington’s Best from The Talbot Inn, Chipping, Lancashire anytime Wilf and Marie were landlords then you have a creamy golden cool pint of the best amber nectar.
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