MEET THE OWNER - HUW-MORGAN EVANS

How did you come about being in charge of The Clock Tower?

After a long time travelling, and working overseas, I finally decided to somewhat settle down in a nice quiet country town; lucky old Cheltenham grabbed my attention and here we are! The Clock Tower is an amazing venue that has so much that can be done with it, working with Marston’s we have a refurbishment planned for early 2024 where you’ll see an all-new exciting venue with live music and so much more!

What needed doing when you took over?

Initially I completely redid the garden area… what a surprise when power washing to discover that the black garden slabs were in fact a rather pleasant orange 😉 Internally we have a superb refurb incoming early 2024 so I’ve just focused on bringing a few weekly events in and improving guest satisfaction; we currently have weekly Bingo, a games night and a book club. Once the refurb is finished we’ll start ramping things up with live music, comedy nights and open mic events.

How do you inject your personality into the place, especially as it's part of a chain so already has practices, menu and brand in place?

Luckily as a partner, rather than a managed house, I have quite a lot of freedom when it comes to the venue. Working with Marston’s architects we have huge plans for 2024. A venue is only as good as the products they sell and the people who work there; as such I’ve been developing a first-class team and ensuring that all of our guests leave with a smile on their face and full bellies!

You mentioned planning a car boot sale in the car park... is this still going to happen?

Annoyingly this is in the hands of the council, I have contacted them to apply for permission but they haven’t come back to me yet. Realistically with winter coming this is something that I’ll have to pick up again next year.

What is your favourite dish on The Clock Tower's menu?

I’m a carnivore at heart so I’d have to say the Sirloin steak, if you join us on a Thursday it’s only £14 including a drink of your choice (alcoholic or non). The Cowboy Burger and Fish & Chips are two of our best sellers, absolutely delicious any day of the week!

I hear you're a dog friendly pub. Is there a particular section people with dogs should sit in?

Absolutely not, our furry friends are welcome anywhere in the venue… just not in the kitchen. 😊

When you're not at The Clock Tower what do you like to do with your time?

I’m a man of extremes, as well as being a PADI qualified Master SCUBA diving instructor I’m also a qualified sky diving instructor; deep under the sea exploring caves and chasing sharks and high in the throwing myself out of perfectly good airplanes! In my more quiet moments I love a good book and spending time with my family, including our huge dog affectionately known as ‘mini horse’.

What's your favourite place to eat out in Gloucestershire apart from The Clock Tower?

I really wish that I had time to eat out… I’ll get back to you when I manage to get a day off!

What did you do before taking over the Clock Tower?

I’ve had a somewhat unusual career path; after studying law at university I started helping my brother in one of the pubs that he bought, that led on to me running a couple of Tim Martins first Wetherspoons pubs in London. I then decided that I’d quite like to make some money from one of my hobbies, at which point I headed off to North Africa to work as a SCUBA diving Instructor; this led to working in many beautiful locations around the world including: Mexico, Australia, South Africa, Belize, Laos and many more. Following on from my diving career I worked in management in a few high-end resorts, including Heron Island a beautiful but tiny island close to the Great Barrier Reef. When I eventually headed back to the UK I took a job as a Senior Team Leader with TESCO running their Clubcard department… the most boring and soul destroying year of my life! I then moved to Seoul, South Korea, for over a decade and worked with a company in Hong Kong where we developed the first ever Escape Room games… so apologies if you’ve ever been forced to get locked in a room with friends, that’s partially my fault 😉After that I headed back to the UK again, turned a football pub into an award winning live music venue and then headed to Cheltenham to develop the Clock Tower into a stunning venue!

What have you learned in business (or life in general!) that you can share as advice for others?

Do what you enjoy and don’t focus on money, if you choose to work in an industry that you love you’ll have more success than if you work in a job that slowly destroys your soul; also make sure that you have a good work-life balance (unlike myself). Try to develop relationships with people who can help you in your chosen career, always listen to advice but take most of it with a pinch of salt… what works well for other people may not for you.