9th November 2022
#Sports
Rugby is back at Young’s!
To celebrate the launch of the Autumn Internationals, we sat down with the General Manager of The Brewers Inn, Ryan. As the captain of the local rugby team he is rugby mad! We spoke about what it is like working at the Brewers Inn, what’s special about Young’s as a company and what plans he has for the pub moving forward:
Can you tell us a bit about yourself and the team at Brewers Inn?
I’ve been at the Brewers Inn myself for just over three years and much of the management team has been here around the same time. We joined together and all went through lock down together. I’m personally not from that far away from here, I grew up near Wimbledon and Raynes Park way. I’ve played rugby for just coming up to 11 years in January.
How long have you been in Young’s?
This is my first Young’s pubs but I’ve run pubs in and around London for a while now, around 15 years. I was quite young when I started working in pubs, since I was 18. I just always wanted to run a pub, and all always really enjoyed it. The pub environment has something special about it, especially when watching sports. Finding a pub to sit down in, even an old stool or a small little table with a few beers on and watch a rugby is a great feeling.
Something I really embrace a lot I after you 12 years of running pubs is that need to do something else a bit more interesting to feel the difference. When the rugby is on and we have fans that stay and go to Twickenham, not only is the pub transformed with everyone watching the rugby, but the whole hotel is also full of rugby fans getting ready to go to the game. When England are playing at home, at breakfast time you just see a sea of white shirts which is really cool!
Twickenham is only about 20 minutes from here, it’s so easy to jump on the one train from Wandsworth Town straight to stadium. It’s a great place to get started pre-game, and once the guys and girls head off to go and watch the game you start filling up with people that are coming in to watch the game here! You get both sides of it which is great.
Why did you move to Young’s from your previous role?
I grew up in Southwest London where Young’s is popular, I went to went to school up near Wimbledon village which has lots of Young’s pubs. So to me I’ve always seen Young’s as being a premium benchmark of pubs. Then having worked in quite a lot of different companies I’ve always admired the flexibility and the individualism that you got as a General Manager here. We can run our own menus and tailor the business to the local needs as opposed to a blanket approach as a brand across the country. The Brewer’s Inn works as a great place to watch sports in, it can adapt here and there to the needs of the business at the time. You can’t really do that in nearly any other company though, they’re good for only one thing normally.
What do you think has changed most since you started?
In the past three years the biggest difference is booking for sports. So, a bit like what I said earlier about really loving the pub and being able to sit on a small table or a stall, wherever it is, and have the old feeling of walking into a pub not having booked, grabbing a beer and saying we’ll find a spot somewhere. That is something I really missed quite a bit and that something that is really special for me. Things have changed now that there was a lot more booking, which has its place as at least we know when everyone’s coming!
But we tend to adapt and do things how we have seen fit best, so it depending on the volume of the game expected we have our restaurant area which has arguably the best screen as the projector then comes down, so we really hype things up to once we know we’re going for England full noise against South Africa. The whole pub will be screaming for it!
You are obviously a big rugby fan and been playing for a while. Where do you play at the moment?
I play with the Bec Old Boys. I’m not a Bec Old Boy, the school closed I think 55 or 60 years ago so there are still a few old boys knocking around. We have a women’s team as well now, the Bec Bells it’s for any level to join up and just play more rugby and enjoy the game and we are always looking for more players if anyone wants to join. The guys playing come into a lot of Young’s pubs as well! I’ve been with them for eleven years now, and I’ve played rugby since I was eight, so I’m a vet!
They do a lot of stuff with the Don’s Local Action Group. That’s the charity that they’ve been collecting loads for each week. This week, it’s been sanitary products, next week the drive changes and each training session everyone brings something to help support. It might be food or it might be toiletries, depending on what they need at the time.
With the Six Nations coming up as well now, it’s a busy few months of Rugby, are there any big plans here at the Brewers Inn?
We’re showing all the games here and at the end of the England games we’re going to be doing a crowd sing along! We’ll have the game on the big screen and have your favourite tunes belting out so you can sing along as a crowd! I’m also lucky enough to have a ticket to England verses Japan for the Autumn Internationals so I’ll will have breakfast here then head over.
We are used to it here as well. When there are World Cups or international tours with England playing down in Australia, lots of people can turn up and we can handle the crowds, it’s not bumpy service. People come in for full English that the chefs are amazing at serving anyway, it’s very easy for us to put a game on. Quite often we have we have lots of Kiwis come in to watch the Super Rugby kicks off in the morning here, and we always try and put on those games on the screens where we can.
Autumn Internationals Fixtures
Saturday 12th November 2022
Ireland v Fiji, Dublin, Kick-off: 1:00pm
Italy v Australia Florence, 1:00pm (2:00pm local)
England v Japan, London, Kick-off: 3:15pm
Wales v Argentina Cardiff, Kick-off: 5:30pm
France v South Africa, Marseille, 8:00pm (9:00pm local)
Sunday 13th November 2022
Barbarians v All Blacks XV, London, Kick-off: 2:00pm
Scotland v New Zealand, Edinburgh, Kick-off: 2:15pm
Saturday 19th November 2022
Italy v South Africa, Genoa, Kick-off: 1:00pm (2:00pm local)
Wales v Georgia, Cardiff, Kick-off: 1:00pm
Scotland v Argentina, Edinburgh, Kick-off: 3:15pm
England v New Zealand, London, Kick-off: 5:30pm
Ireland v Australia, Dublin, Kick-off: 8:00pm
Sunday 20th November 2022
France v Japan, Toulouse, Kick-off: 1:00pm (2:00pm local)
Saturday 26th November 2022
Wales v Australia, Cardiff, Kick-off: 3:15pm
England v South Africa, London, Kick-off: 5:30pm
What are your plans for the future for the Brewers Inn?
We’re looking to expand on what we’d previously done in the garden, turning what was a car park into a bit of a garden and going on from strength to strength there. We’re looking at plans in the next six months to a year to develop that into a proper Young’s garden. A nice outside space with a tent, maybe some huts! Then we’re looking at reworking the downstairs bar. So we will get the cocktail bar open running soon hopefully!
You can find out more about what’s on and how you can watch the rugby Brewers Inn here:
