The Black Friar's Neil Burke on bringing a 200-year-old pub back to life
The owner of the Black Friar pub in Manchester's Salford talks about what makes independent pubs special and his plans for growth to Jungmin Seo
You've recently taken ownership of the Black Friar in Salford after two years managing the pub. Is this a common practice?
I think the majority of pubs, especially nowadays, are owned by a brewery or a bigger group, so I think an independent individual like myself owning a city centre pub that isn't attached to a brewery is pretty rare.
The developers had initially been planning on knocking down the pub, which is 200 years old, when I was first brought in as an operator. I think due to their core business being so busy, and perhaps not a love for the industry like I have, the buyout has happened and they've handed the reins over to me. The pub almost looks like the house from the film Up! There's a huge development of skyscrapers around it and then this beautiful old pub in the middle.
What are the challenges of being independently owned?
We probably don't get the best buy-in power because we don't make our own beer and we don't have the perks of a head office or a big marketing team, which means we do it all in-house. But there are benefits too, because we're not restricted. We can freely change our menus or adapt to trends; we allow ourselves to be whoever we want to be and listen to our customers.
Are you expecting anything to change now you have full ownership of the pub?
The pub is on a good trajectory. It has quiet times and it could do with being a bit busier, but overall we're going in the right direction, so there isn't too much that needs to change. It's about continuing to love our customers and carrying on doing what we've been doing.
How long have you worked with your head chef Ben Chaplin?
He was previously at 20 Stories restaurant, which is run by D&D London and is quite a big name in Manchester. Ben was the head chef there for a few years before jumping ship and coming to open the Black Friar.
He's been here since day one, and he's been massively instrumental in the success of the pub, really honing in on great British food with a modern twist, which is what the pub is all about. We try to source our ingredients locally where possible and we've had some great reviews. We had [The Observer food critic] Jay Rayner in and we recently won an AA rosette award.
It sounds like you work collaboratively with Ben. How do you create strong partnerships with your staff?
We have 45 staff in total and we have a fair working week, so we stick to no more than four working days with three days off. We try to make sure there's enough of the team on rotation so that holidays are honoured.
We also have a fair and transparent tronc and tip system. I don't touch it – a lot of companies use it to top up wages or support the business in other areas – but I really don't agree with that. We give all the service charge added to dine-in bills to the team, and that includes everyone from pot-washers to chefs.
You also operate sister company Bigger Boat Hospitality. What does that involve?
Bigger Boat Hospitality is an overriding company that operates both the pub and the catering side of the company, which we've set up recently. We are pushing expansion plans for that at the moment to cover off-site catering in people's homes, for birthday parties, at weddings and in offices. We are also hoping to open a second venue by the end of next year, if not the beginning of 2025. If we find the right location, we would do similar to what we've done with the Black Friar: improving a great British pub and bringing it into the 21st century.
You were formerly regional manager at the Jamie Oliver Restaurant Group. Did you learn anything there that you apply to your own business?
When I was working for Jamie Oliver I opened restaurants both internationally and in the UK. It taught me the confidence and the organisational skills required to roll-out restaurants. Obviously they were all of a similar ilk with lots of decided-upon models and concepts, so we didn't have a lot of freedom, but it was definitely a good experience in structure and process. I applied that to my previous business in Sydney, a huge entertainment hospitality space called the Grounds of Alexandria.
With all of this in mind, I'm open to taking Bigger Boat Hospitality as far as it will go and to do as many different things as possible. If I find the right venue, I'll be able to decide what the concept should be and if it fits the target audience.
