POLMONT SUCCESS LICENSEE INTERVIEW:ANNABELLE LOVE
W
HEN local Polmont pub The Black Bull was put up for sale in March 2015 it meant one thing for David McAteer and his wife Brooke – they faced the prospect of losing their jobs and everything they had worked so hard for over the last seven years. The couple had taken on the kitchen franchise at the venue in August 2009, quickly building a reputation for great food and even better customer service, which saw them grow the business from 100 covers a week to almost 500 in the space of just 12 months. David (36), a self-taught chef, tried to drum up investors but it looked increasingly likely that one of the bigger pub chains would purchase the venue and three others owned by Maclay Inns, which would effectively leave the couple unemployed. So in the meantime he and Brooke (30) and their business partner Bryan Alexander (53) decided to take on the rundown Craiglee Inn in nearby Falkirk. They got the keys in August 2015 and embarked on an ambitious £200,000 refurbishment before re-opening four months later as The Canalside Pub & Grill. At the same time Tommy McMillan, of Alchemy Inns, bought The Black Bull and agreed to let them have it on a long-term lease. Since then, what is now The Polmont Pub Company, has gone from strength to strength, leasing two more licensed venues, The Oxgangs Hotel in Grangemouth, and The Dumbuck House Hotel in Dumbarton, from Alchemy Inns. In addition, David and Bryan recently opened a new coffee shop, The Wee Calf, in the village of Polmont, after a £10,000 refit. David says, “It’s been a whirlwind 15 months to go from being almost unemployed to having four licensed businesses. “I’ll be honest I do sometimes sit and think: ‘How the hell have I done this?’ We are always investing and looking to make things better. It would be too easy to stand back and give ourselves a wee pat on the back and say well done us. We are always looking for improvement and to keep that momentum going.” David left school at 15 and started working at The Inchyra Grange Hotel in Falkirk, where he quickly developed a strong work ethic. He did an HND in Sports Science at 19 and worked five jobs at one point – in bars, the local gym and as a football coach – before deciding he had to choose a career and committing to hospitality. He explains, “I chose it because I love working with people as well as managing and developing people and seeing a business develop. That’s what drives me as a person – taking something from somewhere and building it.” David took on his first business at 26, after leasing a pub in Stirling, before moving on to The Black Bull in Polmont, the village where he was born and raised. He says, “The pub was never really known for food but we looked at the area, we looked at the market and at that time it was all Brewery-led so we decided to do things a bit differently. We bought in potatoes and chipped them ourselves and made everything from scratch basically. Our emphasis is very much on trying to keep everything as local as possible. “Brooke packed in her job as an estate agent – much to everyone’s bemusement – and she did front of house while I taught myself to be
18
DRAM JANUARY 2017
David McAteer & Bryan Alexander