Manage your career: A life behind bars

It's the moment every parent dreads. A favourite son or daughter sits you down to tell you their chosen career - and it turns out they're going to work in a pub!

In a way, this special feature is aimed at those poor, suffering mums and dads.

To reassure them, perhaps, that a life in pubs today is not quite the career cul-de-sac they might have imagined.

The case studies below demonstrate that, for the right kind of person, pub management offers a career like no other. It combines fun, sociability, the opportunity to express your creativity and, for the successful, high rewards.

A career in pubs with a major company these days is also one that is well mapped out with a structured path to house management and beyond marked out by training and qualifications. You can take it just as far as your enthusiasm and ability will let you.

Manage Your Career also illustrates the great diversity represented by Britain's pubs and bars - and the great diversity of people running them. There is massive scope for young people with ambition and talent in high street bars. But there is room, too, for more experienced people who want to develop a pub in the heart of a community they know.

Read on, and be inspired!

Mark Fraser, Bar 38, Edinburgh​

At the age of just 24, Mark Fraser is running a million-pound business at Edinburgh's Bar 38. Yet, at 17 he had left school with three Highers - the Scottish equivalent to 'A' levels - not knowing which career path to choose.

His only experience of work had been glass collecting in a local pub. He had always enjoyed the atmosphere there so decided to give the pub industry a go and he has never looked back.

He took a job as a full time barman in a pub and nightclub where, after only four months, he quickly worked his way up to become assistant manager. In 1997 he spent six months in Vancouver, Canada, again working in bars in order to check out competition across the pond.

It was then that he decided his future was back home in Scotland and he returned as a waiter at Bar 38, one of Scottish & Newcastle Retail's (S&N) style bars.

After only two weeks his potential was realised and he was promoted to supervisor. Since then he has been through all of S&N's training including NVQs, a residential course at the company's National Training Centre and on-the-job training at a training pub.

In August 1999, he successfully managed the opening of Glasgow's Bar 38 and in February 2000 he returned to the Edinburgh outlet as its manager. Now Mark not only encourages his own staff in their careers but also helps train other new managers before they open their own sites.

Mark says that despite running one of Edinburgh's busiest bars, he finds time to pursue his hobbies.

"I work hard, but I still get time to go rugby training and water skiing," he said. "The hard work is more than made up for with the buzz I get on a Friday and Saturday night when I can see 500 people in and they are there because they have chosen to be in my bar. It's a really good feeling and I love it."

Mark believes that as pub retailing has become more sophisticated, challenges for managers are expanding.

"I now oversee a business with a turnover in excess of £1m," he said. "But the good thing is that S&N lets me operate my bar my own way, within certain brand guidelines of course. The flip side of the coin is that all our staff benefit from training and all the company support that comes with a big brand."

Mark recommends the industry to anyone with the ability to organise and motivate a large team of staff. "You need a commitment to excellence, a good business head and a lot of energy."

John Wort, the Prospect, Fulham, West London​

Hotels often spring to mind before pubs when it comes to thinking about a career in hospitality - but they're not for everyone as John Wort discovered.

John began a classic route into the industry when he took a course in hotel and catering management in Sheffield. But it was his part-time student job working in a pub that actually determined his choice of career.

Now at 28 he's enjoying life as the new manager of the Prospect in Fulham, West London.

"I just found that I enjoyed pubs, the social atmosphere," he said of his career switch. "In any case, there are too many Fawlty Towers out there when it comes to hotels."

On finishing his course he approached pubco Barracuda, which owns Bar Centro in Sheffield where he worked as a student, and started as assistant manager at the outlet which had inspired him.

While there, he took part in the company's staff development programme and took opportunities to gain experience as a relief manager at different pubs within the group.

The next step came when Barracuda refurbished the Psalter in Sheffield and John was made deputy manager of the food-led outlet which was also a small hotel with 13 rooms.

By this time he had come to the notice of Barracuda's directors, "one of the advantages of working for a relatively small company," as he says. "It's a cosy organisation, very informal."

After more training and some close attention to his career development he made his debut as a pub manager in June. He describes the Prospect as "my first baby". "It's so different to working in the north, there are so many different kinds of people, so many cultures down here," he said. "And staff retention is much more of a problem."

Eventually, John hopes to move to a bigger pub. "I've got a lot more to see and do in the industry," he said. "There are always new challenges."

Alison Oliver, Bailey's Café Bar, Braintree​

Alison Oliver was playing oboe with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra when she decided to change her tune - and join the licensed trade.

"It was a big gamble," said Alison. "It all happened very quickly. From deciding we would like to run a pub to managing our own took four and a half weeks!"

Alison, who has been managing Wizard Inns' Bailey's Café Bar in Braintree, Essex, for almost two years, spent nine years as a professional classical musician playing at top West End shows like Oliver, Fiddler on the Roof and Beauty and the Beast.

"My partner at the time and I were getting a bit tired of music - it's a cut-throat business," said Alison. "When we weren't playing we enjoyed visiting Egon Ronay recommended pubs and we always enjoyed discussing 'what if we had a pub' and how we would run it."

The licensee of their local put them in touch with Fuller's and after some initial training they did two holiday relief spells before getting a house of their own.

They spent four years with the London brewer before joining Wizard.

Alison has gained all the required qualifications and done a lot of training and is now putting what she has learned to good use. Bailey's, a modern, stylish and vibrant outlet which Wizard reopened in March 2001 after a major investment, is doing well.

"Wizard is very good on training and bonus packages," said Alison. "But I think the best aspect is that I feel comfortable working for the company.

"Wizard management people are approachable. They are on the same wavelength as you and they treat their managers and staff as human beings.

"You are made to feel important. I know I can pick up the phone whenever I want to and they will listen and act."

Alison was specially impressed by the company's Directors' Forum, an event at which pub managers can meet and question the people at the top in Wizard.

"I am much better suited to what I do now," she concluded. "The gamble paid off. As musicians we drank on one side of the bar but I prefer working on the other side of the bar. It isn't necessarily more lucrative but it is far more enjoyable.

"I used to only meet othe