Burning ambition defeats disaster

Fire destroyed Kieron Daniels' first pub less than a year after he'd taken it on. Undaunted, the Oxfordshire host moved to another venue and has now added a second tenanted pub to his fledgling estate. Jo de Mille met him to find out the secret of his success

Just 10 months after he opened the Half Moon in Oxfordshire, the thatched pub was devastated by a chimney blaze in less than an hour.

Daniels recalls: 'It was 11am on a Friday morning. We were all there my wife and two small children, my brother-in-law, and Henry, who worked there at the time. There was nothing we could do as there were big holes in the chimney stacks so the fire spread rapidly through the eaves and set fire to the thatch. It got us on national television.

Loss of profits amounted to £80,000, and personal effects £45,000, but as the family lived above the pub, they also lost their home. 'We lost some nice pictures, the kids' toys and things like that. I wasn't worried about losing the business though, because you can just start again.

And start again he did. While the insurance claims were being settled, Daniels worked voluntarily for friends' pubs and restaurants to keep his hand in (as well as being a licensee he is also a trained chef), before taking over Brakspear-owned pub the Three Tuns in Henley-on-Thames in November 2002.

When the Morning Advertiser visited him in June, he was opening a second pub that night, also owned by Brakspear. The Fox and Hounds is in Christmas Common, a small village in Oxfordshire, 10 miles from Henley and just a few miles from the village of Cuxham, home to his first pub.

Daniels describes the chimney fire as 'like a car crash or something in life that shocks you. But he says he was not daunted about opening the Three Tuns and now having two tenanted pubs under his belt.

'It wasn't like getting back into a car after a car crash when we took on the Three Tuns. It took so long for the insurance claims to go through that we were raring to go again we wanted to set Henley on fire, he laughs at the unfortunate pun. 'Well, hopefully, not literally.

Henley's best-kept secret

In Daniels' eyes, the Three Tuns was a fairly safe bet it is relatively small and at the time there were no other pubs in Henley with a restaurant attached.

He was also drawn by the barn bar at the back of the pub, reached through a wisteria-clad courtyard. The disused barn was in 'a real state when Daniels took on the pub, yet, after giving it a 50s/60s 'funky feel using contemporary furniture and wallpaper, he proudly states that it is Henley's best-kept secret.

The barn is only open at weekends and has one person manning the bar. It can also be hired for events, although Daniels doesn't actively market it, preferring people to hear about it through word of mouth.

While he had lived above his first pub, he now lives out, saying he doesn't want his children Daisy, six, and Ben, five to be brought up in a pub. 'With a young family, I'd always live out, unless it was a beautiful setting and I was mortgaged to the hilt. The children need to be kept away from [living in] a public environment.

Daniels admits that since being in the pub business, he has not put any money into the bank. The £12,000 a year he spends on rent amounts to 50% of his net profit at the Three Tuns.

After 16 months of trading at the Three Tuns, Daniels had 'reached a ceiling financially and realised the only way he could make any more money was to take on another pub. He looked at what other brewers could offer him, but kept coming back to Brakspear, since it was 'better the devil [he] knew.

He explains: 'I'd developed an amicable relationship with Brakspear and was very happy with them. So why change breweries? They have their own set of rules, which you have to abide by, but these agreements do work. It's a matter of finding the right tenant and the right landlord.

But taking on the Fox and Hounds has meant he's had to take a step back from the Three Tuns, to allow him to concentrate on the new venture. While he put £35,000 into the Three Tuns, he plunged 'quite a bit more into taking on the Fox and Hounds, so it has to work out. Daniels used to work as one of the two chefs at the Three Tuns, as well as 'running things from behind. He now has to trust the manager, Oliver Reichhold, to run it on his own.

A pleasant working environment

Daniels says it was important for him to create a comfortable working environment at the Fox and Hounds and 'paint it how I liked, since he would be spending seven days a week there.

The aim was to retain the pub's charm, while bringing it up to date. However, since parts of the Fox and Hounds are 400 years old and Grade II listed, this was not straightforward. While asking Brakspear's building department for advice on certain changes, Daniels didn't seek permission for everything, such as painting the bar black, or getting rid of some 'dodgy cladding something he admits was overstepping the mark a bit. However, given that the bar is still black and the cladding has not reappeared, it seems that Brakspear is happy to let Daniels make his mark.

Daniels says visiting antiques fairs, auctions and car boot sales is a good way of keeping the decor fresh. 'I go to Kempton race course antiques market twice a month to find cheap bargains. What we try to do at the Three Tuns is sell items on. So if someone wants a chair, table or mirror, they can buy it. In time, he plans to do the same thing at the Fox and Hounds.

Daniels believes you need good business sense to take on a second pub, as well as passion and drive, but he admits: 'I would never describe myself as an entrepreneur, in fact, far from it I wasn't dealing in stocks and shares when I was 15, I was running around on the beach. My father has always been self-employed and he's always said that if you want to be successful at what you do, you have to really work. He's also taught me to make that move if there was something I wanted to do.

As far as the two pubs are concerned, he says: 'This is all a step to acquiring a freehold, with rooms as well. I'm always thinking progressively, about where I'll go next. There's no point saying 'I can't do it'.

Building strong relationships is key to success

To achieve the highest level of business you can, Daniels says it is essential to make the most of the people around you. If you have a tenanted pub, this means developing a strong relationship with your brewery, which will in turn provide you with armies of people to advise you on the running of your pub. He says: 'Even the building department at Brakspear will come immediately if we call them, because they know we're nice people. We make time to sit down, have a coffee and a chat with them.

'Most of the time they knock on a pub door and are told to go away and come back later, at 11am, since the tenants aren't up yet.

Daniels also recommends using all available resources. 'When people come to service your equipment, pick their brains and gather as much information from them as you can. They're not just there to provide a service, they're also there to pass on knowledge.

He adds that it is also important to look after your equipment, so that you can provide a better service to customers. After all, a good glasswasher and efficient cooling system will make for happier customers, who are more likely to return.

Equipment that is well maintained also helps in the quest to serve a good pint something that Daniels says you rarely find. 'This means a clean glass, with the head still there, at the correct temperature, and which also tastes good.