Bar job for Freddie
FREDDIE MAIN was a Design and Technology teacher for 20 years, but has made a career switch during the last year, launching his own company, Oak & Black. He now specialises in making bespoke mini bars from old whisky barrels and counts Outlander's Sam Heughan and the former Scotland ruby captain Greig Laidlaw among his customers.
The bar has a smart lighting system, a magnetic bottle opener and a hand-stamped personalised metal tag, along with a unique barrel number tracing its origins.
The career change from Assistant Headteacher at Merchiston Castle School resulted from a bout of ill health which led to Freddie having Post Viral Fatigue. He contracted an illness while playing for the Scotland Touch Senior Mixed World Cup team in Malaysia in 2019, and continues to manage his health. During lockdown his energy improved after being off work since the beginning of 2020, and he created a mini bar for one of his friends. It was such a hit that he left teaching behind for a new career, and the business now employs a member of staff under the government's Kickstart Scheme which helps young people get into work.
Freddie said: “Creating barrel bars for clients is a dream come true for me – it is something I've wanted to do for years but didn't have the time or energy.
“Lockdown gave me that time to make my first one and really assess whether it was a viable business model or not, and I'm delighted that it's definitely going in the right direction, especially securing orders for people like Sam Heughan, Jim Hamilton and Cask88, and taking on my first member of staff, which has given me a real boost."