A Kent woman is celebrating 20 years in hospitality with a new challenge, managing Shepherd Neame’s Belle Vue Tavern, in Ramsgate.
Victoria Boreham (pictured) started out selling ice creams in the cabin at the Minnis Bay Bar and Brasserie, aged 13. This summer, she made a move from Whitbread, having run sites across Kent.
“Working in pubs, you meet so many people,” she said. “I am quite a social person. It is nice to come to work and not to feel like it’s work. If something bad does happen, you can laugh about it!”
Of the Belle Vue, she said: “It is such a beautiful location. I was looking for a new job and I was blown away by the view. This site has so much potential.”
The site, which dates back to the 18th century when smuggling tunnels linked it to cottages across the road, is home to the ‘Balcony of Kent’, which has some of the best sea views in the county, across Pegwell Bay and out to the Channel. Victoria hopes to capitalise on this.
She has already got to work improving the rear garden, renovating the seating and adding more plants, with blankets and more lighting coming for the autumn, while inside is awaiting redecoration soon.
“I feel like I have been here for ages already! I’m really settling in,” she added. “This is the smallest site I have looked after, but I think it could do big things.”
The team helping her deliver it includes some new additions who have joined Shepherd Neame with her from Whitbread, and Victoria says she is keen to encourage staff development.
“I am passionate about helping people to progress and have always done that throughout my career. I want everyone to be multi-skilled so that they can all help when needed. But I am also an advocate for a healthy work/life balance.”
For Victoria that includes time with her two dogs (Charlie, a Newfoundland, and Hank, a bulldog) and mixed martial arts, such as boxing and Taekwondo.
After spending 15 years with Whitbread, she admits being the ‘newbie’ at Britain’s oldest brewer is quite a change for her.
“It is a little bit humbling to be the newbie. I’d heard a lot of good things about Shepherd Neame before I started, and have already seen a lot of positives in the way it works, really supporting its teams to provide quality experiences for customers.”
