The Orange Tree, Friern Barnet

Hello to the regulars, this is James who was with you recently. I'd like to thankyou all for your warm welcome, and apologize for having to leave abruptly. After 34 days straight, and 472 hours in five weeks, I was done in. I had to put my health and my relationship first. I would like to have stayed long-term and made it successful, (which would have been easy enough if the boss had only co-operated with a handful of reasonable requests,) but the hours to pay ratio was not only a joke but also comprised an illegal pay structure below the minimum wage. I had no terms of employment and no job security. I was a mug to stay as long as I did...

Warm regards & respect to you all, be good to the girls, and if you want your local to succeed then don't let the new man bin DJ Snoops. He'll be the making of that place, if anybody or anything will. Remember also that you're the people who matter; so long as you all keep being excellent to each other, then you can keep the atmosphere going there and it won't matter which dumbarse member of my profession is naive or desperate enough to end up there each month!

PS: If Steve gets the bonus ball again this week, then I reckon he's nobbled the National Lottery!

20 Oct 2009 08:41

The Enterprise, Holborn

I wouldn't have thought so Stonch, as I believe the pubs you mentioned are managed houses, whereas following the change from managed to franchise, M&B are no longer the driving force behind the direction of the business. The new host is.

The thing to bear in mind is that pub franchises are completely different from fast food & high st. retail franchises. They are not uniform. It's only really in terms of the office side of things that there's any involvement with the company.

It's not my place to say what Nick may or may not do, as I no longer work there. Having met the man though, I'm confident that any changes he might make will benefit, rather than detract, from the pub and its character & atmosphere.

6 Apr 2006 18:21

The Enterprise, Holborn

Mitchells & Butlers. Don't worry about this changeover impacting on the atmosphere though. It won't become more chain-like, in fact this is good news for the pub because Nick, the new host, has total autonomy in how how he does things. For example, it is his choice as a franchisee which ales he offers in the future, whereas as a manager, I was told what to offer.

6 Apr 2006 15:41