Watch Welbeck Hotel manager Lucy George speak about Wetherspoon's arrival on the Isle of Man
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00:00Hi, I'm Lucy George, I'm 31 and I'm General Manager at the Welbeck Hotel.
00:05The Welbeck was built in 1896, so it's Victorian built by Sir Alexander Gill and he also built the
00:14two buildings next to us and a few across the promenade as well. But our family, the George
00:21family have been running it since 1978, so 47 years this year and I'm third generation.
00:30And then how do you think that the opening of Wetherspoons is going to directly affect
00:35you guys? I think it'll actually help us, I'm being really positive there, I know, but I think that
00:42there is a market for it and people don't have enough money as they used to, so I think that it
00:50will be a lot better for us, for people who want cocktails, who want boozy brunch. The things that
00:56Wetherspoons don't offer, we do, and people really are loving the personal service we've got to give,
01:03they're loving the fact that it's a family business, they feel relaxed when they come here and I suppose
01:09Wetherspoons is a bit more fast-paced, it's a bit like just get in, have your food and go,
01:17whereas here you can relax, you can have fun, you can have a laugh and you're not in any rush to get
01:23out. At the end of the day it's a new thing, it's a novelty and people, it's the Isle of Man, we love
01:29something new to come in and then some people stay with it, some people don't, so we're just going to
01:36have to see how it goes and just take the good with the bad and see how it goes, yeah. We have to
01:44react to things, we can't be proactive because we're so busy in the moment, we can't possibly
01:49plan for these things and things happen and we just have to deal with it, that's the nature of it,
01:55it's the same in the Victorian building, you've got to kind of hope that things go well but sometimes
02:02you get a roof leak or you know something's not working in a room and you have to just make it up
02:10on the spot and that's the kind of thing that I love about the hotel, it just keeps you on your
02:15toes, you know, no day is ever the same, we just have to look at it like that, nothing's ever going
02:21to stay the same, we're just going to have to roll with the punches. But what do you think personally
02:26differentiates you from a chain like Wetherspoons? Definitely the personal touch, I've been into
02:32Wetherspoons myself and it is literally you go, you even make your order on your phone now,
02:39we did kind of think of that but we're not going to do that because people love having a chat, they love
02:46to know the history of us, they're so interested when they come in about, you know, how I'm the one
02:54that's serving them and my granddad bought it, you know, people love that and I don't, I think that
03:00the Victorian charm that we haven't moved from so much, I think that people love that. People love
03:07something old and it is really, really important to treasure the old things because, you know, it is
03:14special, it's really special and people really feel that through our service and it makes us reach
03:22those standards as well because we know how important it is to give that service and that's
03:28what people come back for at the end of the day. We've been screaming from the rooftops that we
03:32are open to the public seven days a week, we do evening meals, you can just pop in and have a
03:38drink, we do boozy brunches which has been an absolute hit, people love it, they have little
03:45vouchers that they can tear off when they're having a drink and, you know, it's something small but
03:50people love it and the deal's great as well because you can get six drinks or three cocktails with a
03:56meal for £40. You know, people love that deal and it, yeah, that gets them through the door but
04:02it's actually the service and the food that brings them back every time. This couple came over from
04:08Jersey and they have said that there's not a lot, there's no family businesses anymore in terms of
04:18hotels and B&Bs, correct me if I'm wrong, but they're all big hotels, big chains and, yeah, in Jersey, so
04:27and with there only being a few of us left on the Isle of Man that are independently owned, we are to
04:34be treasured, you know, it is something special. People are surprised at what we have to offer because
04:41the, they don't expect us to be as good as we are because we're small and I think that needs to be
04:48flipped on its head because, you know, all the organisations, the Ascot, the Empress, the Edelweiss,
04:58the Merside over there, they all care so much, the Hydro, you know, there's so many,
05:04so many small businesses over here that are individual.