The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Ex-city pub boss aiming For best-seller
Zoe Cooper is on the road to recovery after a rollercoaster 15 years. From 2007 she enjoyed eight successful years in charge of Perth pub Twa Tams, where she put everything on the line to reintroduce live bands and hosted the likes of KT Tunstall on a number of unforgettable evenings.
But the 46-year-old is now officially bankrupt after the ill-fated purchase of Sante, a Perth bar that was previously owned by Julien Mouly, who was jailed for assaulting a woman.
Zoe, who also ran a record label en route to an HND in audio engineering, now lives close to Dundee’s Wellgate Centre and is aiming to put her financial troubles behind her by becoming a best-selling author by the age of 50.
She begins a three-year PHD in September.
By the age of 31 Zoe had endured a host of struggles in less-than-ideal jobs but her luck was about to turn.
Despite leaving Belhavenowned Pivo under a cloud, when one of the company’s pubs, the Twa Tams in Perth, needed a manager she did not hesitate.
“I had been there when it was owned by the Craic family,” Zoe recalls.
“It was a fab pub but I walked in and Belhaven had refurbished it and had taken the heart out, taken the music out.
“I asked ‘where is the stage’? They said they would put music on in a raised area that just looked like someone’s living room.”
“Three or four months in I was ready to quit.”
However Belhaven, who had intended to lease it out, had a change of heart and allowed Zoe to carry on running the pub.
She asked for the stage to return but the company refused. At this point she pushed her luck, persuading a departing manager to part with the £2,000 needed to reinstate the singing area.
“He signed off the money but didn’t say I could have the work done,” she says.
“I didn’t close the pub. I just put tarpaulin down and the guys got on with the work.
“Unfortunately, a stock take took place and it was reported that works were going on.
“Then the building guy who worked for Belhaven walked in. All the work had been done and it was looking fab.
“He looked around the back and said ‘they’re going to fire you – you can’t do this’.”
Zoe’s reaction was to hastily double down.
She had recently employed a contact from her college course, Dochan Macmillan, to promote events and she told him to book some bands for the forthcoming Friday and Saturday.
That weekend, local acts performed on the stage that Zoe had not been authorised to install.
She recalls: “At that point on a Friday we would take £300. On the Saturday, maybe £600 or £700.
“That first weekend with the new stage we took £3,000 on the Friday and £5,000 on the Saturday.
“That is up there with one of my proudest moments.”
However, it was not until two weeks later, when Belhaven operations director Kenny Mackenzie paid Twa Tams a visit, that Zoe knew she was out of the woods.
“He said that what I had done was amazing, so I was allowed to get a new PA system with speakers, mixing desks, microphones and got the system all updated,” she says.
“In the first year I got an award for the best new manager at Belhaven, a lovely handwritten letter saying ‘I was wrong, you’re fantastic’ and a £7,000 bonus.”
The music side of the enterprise was particularly fulfilling. Zoe had a contact with DF Concerts, which lined up some big names for the Tams.
These included the likes of Belle and Sebastian, Travis and Frightened Rabbit. A host of musical festivals also took place at the venue, with every single event free of charge.
One of the most memorable gigs took place in summer 2010.
Zoe received a call saying a “massive” act was coming, but that she would not find out who it was until close to the time.
Six weeks later, she was notified on the Thursday that the mystery act was KT Tunstall, who would perform at the Tams the following Tuesday, June 15 2010.
Local acts were also given a platform at the Tams thanks to Zoe setting up a regular open mic evening.
Folk band Mad Ferret – comprised of Sandy Stirton and Chris Woods – were the house band and the pair currently run the pub, having taken over in 2019.
Away from the music, strong bonds formed with regular drinkers and in two cases Zoe had the privilege of being involved in the aftermath of their deaths.
Zoe’s time at the Tams came to an end in 2015.
Greene King, Belhaven’s parent company, began to have more involvement and decided to refurbish the pub.
“It just looked like any Greene King pub you would see anywhere and it just didn’t work,” Zoe says.
She sought a career change to become a writer, but another hospitality project was on the horizon.
She was in a partnership that bought an initial 10% stake in the Sante restaurant in St John’s Place, Perth.
Then, suddenly, the existing owner Julien Mouly was convicted of domestic abuse and sentenced to 15 months in prison for repeatedly assaulting a woman.
Her partnership eventually took over the restaurant and renamed it Tapavi. For legal reasons, we cannot disclose the circumstances that led to Zoe’s subsequent bankruptcy in 2019.
Throughout this tumultuous period she was still pursuing her writing ambition and started off with the Writers Bureau, an online course that matches students with authors.
Zoe then turned to Dundee University, which had launched a masters course in creative writing and forensic investigation.
She says: “Bizarrely I love my life. All things considered I am quite a positive person.”