The British An old fashioned
Membership Report
ANTHONY MCCONNON
We live in a world which moves incredibly fast. What is new today is totally out dated tomorrow. Patrons demand to have everything at their fingertips and expect to have a perfect experience every time they enter a hospitality venue. With many venues pumping $$$$$ into their business to become the most up to date in their area, one venue in Tasmania is working hard to make sure that time stands still. The British Hotel in Deloraine is run by Stephen, Robyn and Tom Green and is a perfect example of what worked 50 years ago still has its place in today’s world. The 150 year old venue has recently had some “work done” but not to upgrade. The Greens have worked hard to make sure that the venue’s character has remained intact and have uncovered areas of the hotel which have not been utilised for many years. We recently caught up with Stephen and had a chat about the hotel, his family and what drew them to this part of the world. So Stephen when did you take over the British Hotel? We took over the hotel on the 8th May 2015. Can you give us a history lesson on the British Hotel? The earliest record we can find is a licence approved in 1859 to a Mr Bryan Coan. The Hotel has been trading under the same name ever since before this it traded as a General store. The current brick building dates to around 1900, the wooden part on the Parsonage St side predates this and has been used for various businesses over the years, such as a showroom for travelling traders and even as the town’s morgue. What drew you to this lovely hotel? Robyn and I had dinner here once while passing through Deloraine and it left an impression on us as there aren’t many real old fashion pubs left. It wasn’t until our son Tom came to work here that we learned it was on the market. He, like us, has a passion to keep the place as original as possible, focus and good quality traditional food and we pride ourselves on our beer always being in the best nick possible. The pub is also gambling free, which we love, a pub without pokies and TAB is pretty much non existent back home and it’s a real attribute. We get so many comments from tourists who love the fact that it makes the place feel like how pubs used to be. Somewhere for a cold beer and chat with the locals about the footy, farming, fishing or anything really. It’s just a great
place to be. You’re not from this part of the world. Where did you originate from and what is your background? Newcastle NSW where we ran a business renovating pubs and clubs. Robyn also spent years working in hospitals and schools as well as keeping the family business going and raising our two sons, while I worked all over the country building. We originally came to Tasmania to run a caravan park for a year but fell in love with the place and decided the lifestyle here suited us so we wanted to stay. Our youngest son Tom who works alongside us here, has worked in the industry for over fifteen years and all over the world in all sorts of capacities. From classy five star hotels to small family run businesses like ours to running his own in South Africa where he spent the last seven years before joining us here. How has it been working as a family in the Hotel? We all bring a different set of skills to the table. Robyn is meticulous with her book work and organising skills and looks after all the HR work. Tom has great experience in the industry, that has been invaluable to us, and my building background means that we can keep on top of the maintenance that comes hand in hand with such an old building as well as renovate and improve. After fixing and changing other people’s properties over the years, I’ve learnt what does and doesn’t work and/or add value to a venue. But we couldn’t do it all on our own and we consider our staff like family, Buffy (Darren Bussy) our Bar Manager is worth his weight in gold (and he is a big bloke!). He is a piece of British hotel furniture and his experience and local knowledge as well as his crazy sense of humour are all part of the character of the pub. Karen our chef is well known around town for her country style meals. You have “done some work” on the venue since you arrived, have there been any hiccups along the way? We learnt very early that Tasmanian Pub culture is pretty unique and the locals are quite happy with the place the way it is and so are we so we haven’t made any great changes to the way the pub runs publically. Behind the scenes we run things very differently to how it was previously but that is always going to happen when a business changes hands between two
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Hospitality Review
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