Barocco boss: I love Village vibe
Welcome to the latest in the East Kilbride News series Our People.
This week Mark Pirie speaks to businessman and football club chairman Mark Horner.
Mark Horner openly admits that he may be a tad bias after making a statement the Village tourist board would agree with if such an organisation existed.
“I think that the Village is a brilliant area,” says the owner of the Barocco bar.
The man behind the bar – as well as the Village Steakhouse – loves the area he is in.
“Everything here plays their part,” he adds. “They are all part of a hub.
“It’s important to have that sense of community.”
It is that sense of community that saw him decide to take over Barocco 15 years ago.
After working with Scottish Water for 22 years, he heard that the lease on the bar, then known as Legends, was coming up.
He left his old job behind and hasn’t looked back – rebranding the business and turning the restaurant into a steakhouse.
Mark has a background as a butcher, after his family owned two shops in Castlemilk, and he decided to keep the tradition going.
“We decided to go with steaks as it’s something we were bit knowledgeable about,” he said.
“It was a bit of a niche in the market in East Kilbride. There have been butchers in the family for over 60 or 70 years.
“I love this, it’s a hard game, but I love the buzz of working with the community.
“Every week is a different challenge.”
When the News visits Mark he is in the kitchen chopping onions.
He admits he likes to help out where he can
“I’m hands-on,” he insists. “I’m either behind the bar or in the kitchen or sometimes I’m the delivery driver!
“We have quite a few staff but along with all the holidays that comes with that, I’m happy to help out and cover for people.”
A former Junior footballer for East Kilbride YMCA, Wishaw and Largs, Mark has always had a love of the beautiful game.
After his son joined East Kilbride FC, he became involved with the committee of the club before taking the reins as chairman three years ago.
Now he is on the brink of leading them to the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) from the Lowland League.
They are top of the table and could become East Kilbride’s first team to achieve SPFL status.
“It’s unbelievable how far the club has come in such a short space of time has been incredible,” said a proud Mark. “Clubs can play for decades and never experience what we have experienced.
“We are trying to create a good fan base. Every single club plays their part – but why not have a team that is playing in the Scottish leagues? There 170317horner_01 are loads of teams that have talked the talk but have never walked the walk.
“It’ll be amazing for the football side of it, but not just that.
“It will also be amazing for the community.
“When you look all about South Lanarkshire and North Lanarkshire, you ask yourself why don’t East Kilbride have a football team?
“We are not represented in any professional way and it’s about time we were.”
And with that, Mark goes back to chopping onions, pouring pints – and dreaming of East Kilbride’s name being read out on the classified results service every Saturday night.