The Red Lion, Amblecote, Stourbridge
Salary: Open to discussion + excellent profit share opportunity
Full-time | Permanent | Non-live-in
We're not looking for someone to rescue a struggling pub. We're looking for someone to take one of the area's best-known community pubs and make it even better.
We're looking for an experienced and ambitious General Manager to take the reins at The Red Lion in Amblecote and lead one of our most successful pubs into its next chapter.
We took over The Red Lion 13 years ago and, for a local community pub, its success has been quite remarkable.
The Lion has become something of an institution in the area – a thriving, predominantly wet-led pub with a fantastic community following, a brilliant late-night atmosphere and a reputation that attracts customers from across the local area and beyond.
It's a pub we're incredibly proud of.
But after 13 successful years, we think it's time to evolve.
We're looking for someone with the experience, energy and ideas to build on everything that already makes The Lion special, while bringing fresh thinking to the business.
In particular, we see a real opportunity to reinvent and grow our food offering, develop a stronger and more exciting programme of events, and find new ways to diversify and grow an already successful business.
A refurbishment is also on the horizon. The pub, its interior and its garden have always been maintained to a very high standard, but we believe the time is right to invest further and give The Lion a fresh lease of life.
This isn't about changing The Lion into something it isn't.
It's about understanding what has made it successful for so long, protecting the things our customers love and having the confidence and creativity to take it forward.
The opportunity
This is a genuine opportunity for an experienced pub operator to make their mark on an established and successful business.
You'll have responsibility for the overall performance of The Red Lion and the freedom to bring ideas to the table.
We want someone who can look at where The Lion is today, identify where the opportunities lie and work alongside us to drive growth over the next 12–24 months and beyond.
The pub is predominantly wet-led, with a strong local following and a lively late-night trade.
Food, however, is an area where we know there is significant room for growth. We're particularly interested in finding someone who understands how to develop, market and drive a successful pub food offering.
Events are another area where we see considerable potential. We'd love to find someone who can bring creativity, energy and fresh ideas to our calendar and give customers even more reasons to visit The Lion.
Commercially, you'll be given real responsibility and autonomy.
You'll have control of your own P&L and be expected to understand the numbers behind the business – from labour and stock to margins, sales and profitability.
You'll lead a team of around 12 people, supported by an Assistant Manager, and have responsibility for recruitment, training, rotas, standards, performance and the ongoing development of your team.
This is your pub to lead.
Who we're looking for
Ideally, you'll already have experience as a General Manager within the pub sector and be ready for an opportunity where you can have genuine influence over the future direction of a successful business.
However, we'd also be interested in hearing from exceptional Deputy or Assistant Managers who have strong operational and commercial experience and feel ready to make the step up.
We're looking for someone who:
· Has strong experience within the pub and hospitality industry
· Understands how to run a busy, wet-led operation
· Has the commercial ability to manage and take ownership of a P&L
· Understands stock, labour, margins and profitability
· Can recruit, lead, motivate and develop a great team
· Has experience or a strong understanding of how to grow a pub food operation
· Can bring creativity and energy to events and new revenue opportunities
· Understands the importance of maintaining the character of a successful community pub
· Has high standards and takes real pride in their pub
· Is comfortable working in a lively, fast-paced environment
· Has the confidence to bring forward new ideas and challenge us when they see an opportunity
· Holds a Personal Licence and is willing to act as the pub's Designated Premises Supervisor (DPS)
Above all, we're looking for someone who wants more than simply another pub management job.
We want someone who wants to take ownership of a business, put their stamp on it and help us write the next chapter of The Red Lion.
A different approach to hospitality management
At Furious Pub Company, we're passionate about creating pubs that people genuinely love spending time in.
We're an independent, ambitious and growing pub company, but we're also determined to challenge some of the outdated thinking that still exists within our industry.
One thing we won't apologise for is believing that great managers shouldn't have to sacrifice their personal lives to run great pubs.
Too often in hospitality, General Managers are expected to work 60 or 70-hour weeks, constantly firefighting and simply trying to survive.
We don't believe that's sustainable, and we don't believe it creates the best businesses.
Instead, we believe in building strong teams, empowering our managers, planning properly and creating an environment where hard work is recognised, but work-life balance is genuinely respected.
That's not to say hospitality isn't demanding – it absolutely is. There will always be busy weekends, late nights and times when everyone needs to roll their sleeves up.
But those should be the exception, not the expectation.
We believe success comes from working smarter, developing great people and creating strong teams and systems that allow our managers to lead their businesses – rather than spending every waking hour working in them.
We're looking for someone who shares those values.
Someone who wants to build an outstanding pub, develop a fantastic team, achieve great commercial results – and still have a life outside of work.
Salary & profit share
We're keeping the salary open to discussion because, ultimately, we're more interested in finding the right person.
Alongside a competitive salary, there is the opportunity to earn a significant profit share, meaning the person who helps us grow the business can share directly in its success.
We want our managers to think like business owners, and we believe they should be rewarded when the businesses they lead perform well.
This is a non-live-in position.
Your future with Furious Pub Company
We're a young, energetic and ambitious independent pub company, and we want talented people to grow alongside us.
We don't believe in creating a group of identical, corporate pubs. Each of our pubs has its own personality, its own customers and its own place within its community.
We give our managers real responsibility, genuine autonomy and a voice in how their businesses develop.
As Furious Pub Company continues to grow, there will be opportunities for the right people to grow with us.
We're not trying to become the biggest pub company.
We're trying to build great pubs, create great places to work and become one of the best places in the industry to build a career.
Interested?
If you're an experienced pub operator looking for a role where you can genuinely make an impact – or an exceptional Deputy or Assistant Manager ready to take the next step – we'd love to hear from you.
The Red Lion already has the reputation, the customers and the foundations of a fantastic business.
Now we're looking for the person who can help us take it even further.
Pay: From £35,000.00 per year
Work Location: In person
