Pub operator recruiting

A PUB operator is advertising for 40 staff as it gears up to reopen postlockdown.

The Beautiful Pubs Collective, in Leicester, is looking for workers to join its three outlets.

The business, launched by Sam Hagger in 2008, manages the Knight & Garter and the Rutland & Derby in Leicester, and the Forge Inn, in Glenfield.

Mr Hagger, pictured, said it was the biggest multi-site recruitment campaign the chain had run.

Last spring he had described how telling staff he was closing the pubs because of Covid-19 – before the government stepped in with the furlough system – was one of the worst days of his life.

All he knew then was that the pubs were no longer sustainable – at least in the short-term – as the lockdown started to take hold.

At the time he said: “That was the worst day of my career because there was no furlough scheme yet and I had to tell 80 people that we were closing the doors. We said they would get at least four weeks’ pay.”

He was then able to sign staff up to furlough.

He said the new recruitment campaign will take the company ahead of its pre-pandemic staff numbers ahead of a planned return to full operations by end of May.

“Throughout the pandemic we have fought hard to ensure the survival of our business, worked with indefatigable energy to retain and support our amazing pub teams while doing everything within our resource to play our part in supporting the communities that our beautiful pubs are part of the fabric of,” he said.

“Through the pandemic we have learned with intimacy so much about our brilliant people and have now formed what we believe is our own roadmap to recovery and beyond, and as a result we are now more excited than ever for the future of our pubs and their people.”

The recruitment campaign is being led by Rose Hagger supported by operations manager Marcin Blaszyzk, with posts ranging from front-of-house staff and line chefs to deputy general managers and head chefs.

Rose Hagger said: “Having worked in hospitality for 14 years, I am confident our investment into these new roles and people will be part of a new dawn for hospitality locally and it will form a massive piece of the collectives’ return to growth in the coming year.”

In 2019, Sam Hagger was named Leicester Mercury Business Executive of the Year.

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