After 15 years in the British Steal Industry, Tim Tomlinson FBII was ready for something new. Having watched how pubs in 90s London had transformed from old men’s boozers into family-friendly venues, he anticipated the trend would head north and so he opened his first pub, The White Cross in Lancaster. The BII’s Gueniver Warren MBII reports.
Located in the heart of a refurbished cotton mill warehouse, next to the main canal in the city of Lancaster, The White Cross oozes charm and gives the warmest of greetings to all those it has welcomed through its historic doors.
Tim’s first pub, The White Cross served to highlight the opportunities that existed to convert Lancaster’s other beautiful, historic buildings into pubs, and in 2007 he opened his second food-led premises, The Merchants 1688, a 300-year-old former wine merchant’s cellar a stones throw away from Lancaster Castle. Later that same year, Tim went on to open another style of venue, a craft
and music bar, the Stonewell Tap.
While Tim loves his three pubs, keeping them afloat amidst the ongoing economic uncertainty has been no easy task. While the pandemic was hard to navigate, he says, at least during the lockdowns every pub found themselves in the same boat. But the impact of the cost-of-living crisis has affected different pubs in a variety of ways; with consumers increasingly cautious about spending money, while the revenue needed to maintain a successful business continues to soar.
Tim has been working hard to make the most of what he has available, while tightening up on any unnecessary expenditure. But with energy bills doubling and the staffing costs increasing faster than inflation, managing three pubs has become more challenging.
But, thanks to his approach to his team, many of whom have been with him for more than 18 years, he has strong staff retention. “It is not all about pay, it’s about conditions and managing rotas to fit people’s personal lives. That is almost as important as the money, because everyone has complicated lives with their families, whether it be in caring for their children or managing around their partner’s work schedule.”
It is important, he says, to focus on the individual and their life both in and out of the pub. “If you can provide something that works for their family and themselves, then that’s worth more than 50p an extra an hour to them. Ultimately, it’s about people enjoying coming to work and feeling that they are well treated and not pushed too far or hard.”
In addition to his high levels of staff retention, Tim is also proud of how he has been able to support people within his business, like, for instance, the two youngsters who joined as part-time pot-washers and who worked for him for a few years, before leaving to find new opportunities elsewhere. Both found their way back to the business, where they were welcomed with open arms
and, having worked hard, they are now employed as Head Chefs aged 24 and 29.
Cheffing, Tim believes, provides young people coming into hospitality a good career path, where they can earn a decent amount of money – which wasn’t the case 10 years ago, he adds.
Tim also likes to take a sustainable approach to business. He and his team recycle and upcycle, as well as buying their food from local suppliers, wherever they can. When buying local, Tim says many suppliers will take back their packaging, with the aim to reuse or recycle, which further helps his sustainability journey. One thing that does annoy him, however, is that plastic kegs aren’t
recyclable. “They have been designed as single use and that upsets me. They should be looking at the design and seeing what could be tweaked, so ‘you stack ‘em rack ‘em and send them back to reuse them’. But currently that’s not the case.”
He continues: “There are very few industries that have a reusable delivery process. Some of the kegs that roll in on a Friday morning, when delivery comes, have got to be 10-20 years old. They are knackered and falling apart, but they have been used hundreds, probably 1,000s of times. The beer barrels that you sell beer through into the pubs have got to be one of the greenest ways of delivering any product. Especially, if you buy your beer from local brewers, because it’s fewer miles.”
Twenty years on since he first opened The White Cross, Tim says the most rewarding part of the job has been seeing his customers enjoy the product of the team’s hard work. “I made good friends in the steel industry, but no one ever came and shook my hand and said ‘Tim, you know what? That was some cracking steel’. Whereas people make a point of saying, ‘that’s a nice pint’, ‘what a lovely pub’, or ‘we really enjoyed the roast beef on Sunday’.”
While good old fashioned customer interaction pleases him, the dreaded words ‘social media’, is something he doesn’t really understand, other than it’s important as a promotional tool. So, he entrusts his younger employees, the tech savvy generation, to help him get his message out there.
“You recruit someone who knows what they’re talking about and has the skill set to do a job that you can’t do,” says Tim. Additionally, by passing social media to the team, it gives them a sense of inclusion and pride about their work, as they get to show off their creative flair.
As well as making sure the team are engaged and fulfilled in their roles, Tim likes to ensure his customers are happy too. Tim takes a slightly different approach to customer engagement, as while he sees Google and TripAdvisor reviews as welcome, he prefers to have a more rewarding and personal review to work upon.
At the end of a meal, the team will hand out Tell Us cards to collect feedback. As an incentive for customers to fill them in, all the completed feedback cards go into a monthly raffle, with people having the chance to win a free meal. “We’re not asking them ‘Did you like our service?’ or ‘Did you like our food?’, ‘Were the toilets clean?’, as that might not be relevant. Instead, we ask ‘Tell us what you enjoyed most’ and ‘Tell us what one thing we could improve’, because it forces them to think.”
Looking to the future, Tim reflects on how fulfilled running pubs has made him feel, and his focus is now on improving the business every way he can. “It has been 20 years this month (October) that I’ve been running this pub,” Tim says. “It has been a tough five years but I want us to find a way of doing what we are doing even better, and being able to enjoy it.”
As he reminisces on the trade and the positive effect his pub has had on people, both customers and the team, Tim feels hopeful for the future: “Things are still a long way from perfect, but it doesn’t feel as bad as it was 12 months ago.”
