Out of Africa

Andy Roberts ran several golf and country clubs in Zimbabwe before taking up farming a few years ago. So when President Mugabe's anti-whites campaign forced him to leave, the natural solution was to try to get a job in hospitality back in the UK.

However, despite glowing references, he lacked British experience, and it was a couple of months before anyone would take him seriously. Eventually, on 21 September 2001, Unicorn Management offered him the job of rescuing the Pelham hotel, a run-down property in Bexhill-on-Sea, near Eastbourne on England's south coast.

The hotel had been run as a hot spot for the youth crowd, and had been shunned by other locals as a den of underage drinking, rowdiness and drug-dealing. Now Roberts, 48, and his wife Cecilia are getting it back on its feet. "We're having to start again at the bottom, and it's a real challenge," he says.

One thing customers can be sure of is an endless fund of adventure stories from the host. Soon after Roberts's family emigrated in 1966, to what was then Rhodesia, he and his brothers were called up to fight in the colonial war against native insurgents. In the bush, he found himself dodging bull elephants and other wild animals, as well as pursuing enemy soldiers. Besides a later stint as a Special Branch policeman, Roberts has also mined for gold in South Africa and been a firefighter.

It was while he was in South Africa that he acquired a diploma in hotel management from a Cape Town college, and took the first of a series of posts managing golf and country clubs. By 1996, he was back in Zimbabwe running the Harare Sports Club, which organises international cricket and rugby matches, directing a staff of 150 in 47 bars. By 1997, he was on his second marriage and helping to run the large farm Cecilia shared with her brother. In addition to tobacco, maize and other crops, the couple set up a thriving button mushroom business, supplying all the hotels and restaurants in Harare.

That all started to change two years ago, as Mugabe resorted to an anti-whites policy to keep himself in power. "We were invaded by war veterans," Roberts says. "They robbed the stores, killed the cows, chickens and dogs, and hacked down all the trees and vegetation." He phoned the police, and was astonished to be told it was a "government matter" and they had orders not to intervene.

The Robertses moved into Harare, but found that even there the whites were not safe from government persecution. The last straw was in April last year, when Cecilia was picked up by war veterans, marched at gunpoint through the city with a group of women and children, and made to sit in the sweltering sun outside their offices for a whole day.

By June, the couple were back in Britain, where in desperation Roberts started applying for any job he could get, before landing the Pelham tenancy. This was something of a mixed blessing, as the hotel had an appalling reputation and, having been closed for several months, was in a dilapidated state.

Simply clearing out the rubbish took four months. Another difficulty was getting the licence back, since the local council at first insisted it would oppose any application. Fortunately, it changed its mind when it learned that Roberts had been a policeman. "They were very nice to me after that," he says.

Packed out
To revive the bar and restaurant trade, the couple are offering pub meals, including curries, steak pies and fish, as well as a Sunday carvery for about £5. This is a loss leader, which Roberts says is essential to get custom back again. "I don't like giving away food but it is certainly working," he says. "Word is getting around: the place was packed out last weekend, and we have had superb compliments." Cecilia does the cooking, aided at weekends by her 21-year-old daughter, while Roberts handles front of house.

Having learned the trade in Africa, the couple have had to adapt to British ways. "It was all a bit strange at first," Roberts says. "For instance, most of the beer in Africa is bottled, so we didn't even know how to pour a Guinness."

Another challenge is fish, which is a big item in Britain but is hardly served at all in Zimbabwe, which meant the couple had little idea how to present it. "I realised we would get into trouble here unless we learnt to do things properly, the English way," Roberts says. "Then we can apply our African ideas." To acquire the necessary knowledge, they are doing a 16-month, one-day-a-week catering course at Sussex Downs College in Eastbourne, leading to NVQ level 2.

African recipes have met with mixed success. Guava fruits, available in the local supermarket, are prized as a dessert in Zimbabwe but have not met with favour in Bexhill. And there was confusion with "butternut", a type of squash, which had to be shown to customers to satisfy their curiosity. However, they liked the taste when it was cooked with sugar, salt and cinnamon. Other African vegetable recipes have also gone down well - for instance, cabbage, green beans or spinach fried with onions, mashed potato and garlic.

Besides a large bar, a small dining room and an upstairs function room, there are 10 bedrooms in the hotel, four of them doubles. As there is no way the Robertses can afford to meet the full health and safety conditions at the moment - the estimated cost for fire alarms alone is £12,000 - they can let only a maximum of three rooms at a time. Room rate is £25 for bed and breakfast, but the summer tourist trade could become a significant earner.

Function side
The turnover for the whole business is about £8,000 a month, but Roberts aims to double that as quickly as possible by building up the catering and function side. The function room holds 120 people and Roberts is negotiating for regular business from the local Masonic lodge.

The couple are living off the earnings and spending anything left over on essential refurbishment, much of which they do themselves. Gradually, therefore, they hope to meet all the health and safety regulations and so be able to let out all the rooms.

The property belongs to London Inns, but the initial contract was with Unicorn Pub Management. Once Roberts and his wife were established as managers, Unicorn pulled out, and they took on the tenancy. This has had to be limited to just six months from May, since they were able to raise only half of the £6,500 deposit, but it is renewable.

There is a problem, however. The couple aim to make a go of the hotel and to extend the tenancy agreement, but the property is on the market and, if it is sold, they could be given one to three months' notice to leave. That not only means that anything they spend on it would be lost, paradoxically their redecorating is making the place more attractive to a buyer. "It would be a shame to lose this place, having spent so long cleaning and decorating it," Roberts says.

Starting all over again is a daunting prospect, but the couple have the settler spirit and are rising to the challenge. A natural host with a rich store of tales to tell, Roberts likes talking to people, and concludes: "It's quite tough sometimes, but I'm really enjoying the experience."

Pelham hotel

Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex TN40 2DD
Tel: 01424 211800

Owner: London Inns
Tenants: Andy and Cecilia Roberts
Turnover: £70,000 a year
Bedrooms: four double, six single
Room rate: bed and breakfast,
£25 per person

Andy Roberts's CV

1981-84: Manager, Kamfinsa Park hotel, Zimbabwe
1984-88: Manager, Maccauvlei Golf Club, South Africa
1988-91: Manager, Glenvista Country Club, South Africa
1991-94: Director, Quarters Restaurant, Eshowe, Northern Natal
1994-96: Manager, Ruwa Country Club, Zimbabwe
1996-2000: General manager, Harare Sports Club, Zimbabwe
2001 to date: Tenant, Pelham hotel, Bexhill-on-Sea, UK