Business Leader of the Year sponsored by Poppleston Allen – Peter Borg-Neal

Starting his hospitality career as a 16-year-old cellar boy, Borg-Neal has spent four decades rising up through the ranks to where he is today.

The experience he has garnered throughout the years has provided him with the clear insight into what it means to work at an Oakman Inn and how each decision is ultimately reflected in the customer experience.

Company founder

Borg-Neal went on to start Oakman and the business first opened its doors in 2007 with a vision to crate the perfect environment to come and enjoy great food and drink, while catching up with friends, family, neighbours and colleagues.

In a trading update earlier this year (February), Oakman announced it had secured what directors believed to be its “strongest ever pipeline of new sites”, which would result in the business growing its estate by 25%​.

Last year, the group acquired six pubs from the administrators of Seafood Pub Company​ and included former managing director and founder of Seafood Joycelyn Neve joining Oakman.

Acquisition deal

In celebration of the first year anniversary of its partnership with Oakman, Seafood PubCo opened a new southern flagship pub​ in Tring, Hertfordshire in March.

Borg-Neal said the acquisition of Seafood PubCo was a “great success” and added: “As expected, it has been a good cultural fit and the business has seamlessly merged into the Oakman family.

“The pubs are trading well and present a new dimension to our expansion plans for the future.”