The Inn @ West End

My name is Gerry Price and, with my wife and team of happy helpers – the staff –, I run The Inn @ West End, near leafy Woking in Surrey. We are of course not complete without a band of merry customers and like all good leaders in that regard, I lead from the front!

I am 53 years old and have been in the pub trade since, well, since I was about seventeen actually. I used to work at Hitchin CIU club when I was saving to go travelling before I went to Newcastle University to study Agriculture. A few years in farming taught me that there it is enjoyable but not a way to make a living and so I went into the Pub game which is another way not to make a living. In fact there are two ways to make a small fortune – farming and pubs but in both cases you need to start with a large fortune!

The first pub I ran was the Thatched Tavern in Ascot followed by The Swan at Windsor, The Brickmakers at Windlesham and now The Inn @ West End. I have also had dabbles with BA (trolley dolly), Hamoshire Pubs (Area Manager) and Price Waterhouse (also area manager running pubs and restaurants in receivership).

I have always followed the mantra that I am here for a good time, not a long time and have not been very good at squirreling away any spare money, hence I am still running a leasehold pub. I am hoping that might change in the near future and you may even share in the delights of such a purchase, should you follow this blog.

The pub trade has changed immensely over the last 25 years and not, I regret, for the better. It is however still a people business but, more than ever, it is now a business. Gone the days when policeman, fireman, servicemen and women retired and took a tenancy of a pub to try and help brewers sell their brews, guaranteed of a home and a bit of a living. To be a good publican now you must still be ‘hail fellow well met’ and all that but you must also be good with a spreadsheet, up to date with employment legislation, conversant with Health and Safety legislation, holder of a personal licence which must marry up with the premises licence of your pub and so on.

So that is the Gerry Price who will share pearls of wisdom, as well as frustrations, as and when I get the time to put pen to paper, metaphorically. Should you be passing, mine’s a pint, thanks. Black Sheep will do fine!