Careers: Coming of age
SHORTEST, TALLEST, strongest, fastest it pays to be wary of people claiming to have broken records because it can be difficult to verify the more obscure ones out there. So when Charlotte Wigham, 21, told us she believed she was the UK¹s youngest freeholder, we were sceptical.
Despite the Guinness Book of Records giving her exactly the same reply, she has to be congratulated on her achievement. While her friends are only just leaving university, she owns and runs a food-led 52-cover pub on the outskirts of Canterbury, Kent, that turned over £154,000 in its first six months.
Defying the naysayers
Buying the Old Coach and Horses in Harbeldown in October, the licensee has defied naysayers who thought she lacked the experience and maturity needed to make a success of it.
It took a single day on a licensee retail management course at Bournemouth University for Charlotte to decide her best route into the pub trade was through hands-on experience, rather than formal qualifications. She describes the academic approach as ³like learning to drive in a simulator².
Quitting her studies in late 2003 but convincing her parents she was still attending college, she started part time at the Old Coach and Horses, and quickly became a full-time member of staff. When one of its managers left, she took on the role of front-of-house manager.
Soon, the licensee¹s lease ended, and the landlord decided he wanted to sell the freehold. The youngster leapt at the chance.
By this point, Charlotte had come clean to her parents. She was able to afford the £500,000 for the freehold and a refurbishment prior to re-opening through bringing on board an old family friend as a business partner.
The young licensee has the licensed trade in her blood. Her father, Robert, has run a pub in Canterbury since she was nine years old, from which point she started ³helping out and really enjoyed it².
She says: ³When they are at school, most people don¹t know what they want to do in life. I did.² Her uncle Ian is the head rep in the UK for Peter Lehman Wines, and the experience of such family members has been a great help in shaping the Old Coach and Horses, she says.
Her family also has a farm that supplies the pub with items such as asparagus and its own brand of apple juice. The farming gene has been passed down to Charlotte, too, who keeps chickens and sells their eggs in the pub.
Really scary
She now employs her mother Hetty, a situation she admits sometimes feels like an uncomfortable role reversal. ³She is quite good, but sometimes when she is trying to take control, I have to tell her Œlook, relax¹,² Charlotte says.
Explaining how daunting it was to take on a pub at 21, Charlotte says: ³It was really scary, especially as we opened just before the busy Christmas period. It was the most stressful thing I have ever done, knowing that it was entirely up to me.
³A lot of people had their doubts about me being too young. But I have worked my arse off. When it¹s down to you, you have to make commitments.² In her initial meetings with accountants they told her she shouldn¹t expect to make any profits in the first year. She forecasts profits in the second half of her first year, however.
Whether she is a record-breaker or not, she seems to be proving all doubters wrong.
Charlotte¹s top tips for coming so far so young
Not making enemies. Charlotte (pictured above behind the bar at her pub) is careful not to annoy villagers, stressing to people the need to be quiet when leaving. She keeps on the right side of the council by selling local guidebooks to tourists.
People skills. ³Even if I have the grumpiest customer in here, I keep smiling,² she says.
Other useful skills. These are, according to Charlotte:
Common sense
Being able to multi-task
Coping with only a few hours sleep
Being able to detach after work.
