Blog

Last week, Chester Racecourse played host to one of my favourite nights of the year: the Chester Hospitality People Awards. And honestly, what a night it was. Hosted by myself and the brilliant Izzy Marston, the evening brought together some of the very best people, venues and businesses from across Chester’s hospitality scene. From Carden Park to Rooftop Social, BarLounge, The Ivy, Chester Zoo, Shrub and so many more, the room was full of the people who make this industry wh

This weekend I went to BST Hyde Park to see Garth Brooks, and honestly, what an incredible experience. We had Gold HydeAway tickets, which meant we had a separate entrance into the festival, and had access to the VIP area. Customer experience and journey was really taken into consideration at this festival. The park was signed really well, there were maps dotted around everywhere, and the app was genuinely brilliant. Throughout the day, before even going to the festival, noti

Well, here we are talking politics….again And what a week it has been. With Keir Starmer announcing his resignation, the focus has very quickly shifted to Andy Burnham. At this early stage, it feels less like a leadership race and more like a clear pathway being made for him. Unless something changes dramatically, he appears to be the standout candidate and, realistically, the man most likely to become our next Prime Minister. Now, I will be honest. I have always liked Andy B

The World Cup is here, and honestly, hospitality could not have asked for it at a better time. After years of rising costs, staffing pressures, business-rate increases, higher wages, energy bills and customers becoming more careful about how they spend their money, our industry finally has something enormous to get excited about. And when I say enormous, I mean nearly £900 million enormous. Football fans across the UK are forecast to spend around £898 million in hospitality v

I always say hospitality is a team sport, but this weekend reminded me that small business is basically an extreme sport involving customer service, van hire, stock runs, and someone’s mum bringing emergency bacon. On Saturday, my son and our Head Chef Dilwyn from The Chester Townhouse took their food truck to Chester Regatta. For context, the two of them run a food truck business together, doing festivals, events and weddings. This weekend they weren’t just one of the food v

We’ve just invested in CHANCE Clean Cider, and if I’m honest, this didn’t come from a strategy meeting or a plan to go looking for a drinks brand… it just kind of happened naturally. I’ve known John Logue for a few years now. He’s always been around what we’re doing, backing events, supporting awards, getting involved where he can. One of those people you see consistently showing up, which in this industry actually means a lot. At the same time, I’ve always been a cider drink