7th April 2025
Written by Rachel Wallace
So, 10 years at Robinsons, what first brought you to here and what were you doing before you came here?
My background was actually art and design, my family are artists, so I was actually working for our family business as a wallpaper designer, before I got made redundant by my dad! After that, I was doing freelance work which was really tough to do because this was just post-recession, so I decided to get a part time job. One of my husband's friends worked at Robinsons at the time and said there was a part time job going at Robinsons Visitors Centre as a receptionist, so that’s where it all started.
I started working part time at the Visitors Centre. When I started, Olivia – who's now a BDM, was the Manager of the Visitors Centre. Over time, a full-time roll came up and then I gradually worked my way up to be General Manager until we closed for the Covid-19 pandemic.
So, was that when the VC was open for regular tours and a restaurant?
Yeah, it was really busy. The place was heaving all the time, every day, it’s hard to imagine, now we’re not a restaurant - but it was. It was like having fingers in many pies because you would have, say, 70 people eating lunch here, all between 12 and 2pm. Then you’d have a function going on in the Old Tom room, so you’d be catering for another 100 people with function rooms with just two chefs – it was hard work.
How did you get into the position of Customer Hub then?
When we reopened following the pandemic, we were trialling the Customer Hub for a year, then called the “Contact Centre”, whilst continuing to run the Visitors Centre. The Customer Hub was one of the changes we implemented during the pandemic, because of the issues we were having with the constant changes and development of Government rules and instructions.
At the time, restrictions varied across all our borders, and we had some pubs open, others closed. So, we diverted all calls and emails to a central place, so we could ensure guests were receiving responses. A perfect example of this was the Red Lion on High Lane. Perched right on the border of Derbyshire, but officially in Stockport, it sat just 100 yards from pubs that could open, while it had to keep its doors shut. It was all so bizarre. Guests could enjoy a pint just down the road, but not at the Red Lion, simply because Greater Manchester’s restrictions drew the line, quite literally, at the end of the car park! That is where the Customer Hub began. We did this for six of the main busy sites, mainly the ones which did weddings and events. It was such a big success that it carried on! It’s kind of my baby now – I was ready for it, ready for the challenge.
What has kept you here for the past 10 years?
I’ve never been stagnant in the same role and opportunities have kept presenting themselves. I’ve grown and developed a lot. I’m not a person who is afraid of change. I also think that it is just Robinsons too. I mean I had my wedding here!
Oh wow! That’s amazing!
Yeah, we had it in 2019 just before Covid hit! We went to the Town Hall to get married, then we had a wedding lunch and then we had the evening reception here with around 180 people. We had the buffet in the Old Tom room, a dance floor upstairs and then sat the top table in the main restaurant area downstairs... Everyone said how amazing the buffet was – that was something I had to organise myself with our head chef. But it was fun to do!
I remember we had just started doing the Friday staff socials and I was in my scruffs decorating the Old Tom room ready for the big day. When they did the monthly raffle draw, Oliver Robinson dragged me out and said, “you’re doing the raffle today!” and did a little congratulatory speech for me. It’s the little things like that that they’ve let me do and just been lovely about, and it just makes me think - what other company would do that?
What a special memory!
So, what does a usual day look like for you in the Customer Hub?
A typical day in the Customer Hub is always full of surprises! We deal with a wide range of inquiries and hear some endearing stories. Managing a remote team also brings its own set of challenges—like Wi-Fi issues or unexpected things like birds flying down chimneys!
One recent heartwarming moment involved a regular at the Legh Arms, who had just gone into remission after cancer treatment. His favourite dish, Fish and Chips, had been off the cards for years due to his illness, and he was eager to return. Despite the restaurant being fully booked, Charlene made it happen, securing him a table, and we even covered his bill and gave him a gift voucher. It was a small but meaningful gesture that really highlighted the power of teamwork!
What do you enjoy most about your role?
No day is the same, I’m not stuck in one place, I get to travel around so much which I really love. When I worked at the VC, I knew all the Head Office staff well. But since moving roles, I get to travel to all of our sites and meet other people. I like being on the road and putting faces to names and seeing the behind-the-scenes stuff. I have also really enjoyed setting up our new Customer Relations System – Zendesk and having that as a project to get involved in.
This new system has a great user interface for all the team, is much more user-friendly and builds customer data. It takes customer details and makes notes. It identifies trends, so we can easily build a reporting structure. We can assess calls, so we can use it to improve our efficiency and performance. It also helps us gather customer sentiment and with the use of AI it has loads of clever features - it’s great!
How can you see your job evolving in the next few years?
I’ve had lots of ideas since we began with the Zendesk project and over the last year, we’ve been able to begin implementing some of them. We’ve invested more in the Managed Houses support team, which has meant we’re able to put more resources into how we look after our customers. We are currently looking after the customer services of 20 pubs at the moment, we have got another 10 to go and we’ll be responsible for responding to calls and emails, managing reservations, enquiries and general off-site customer service of all our Managed Houses.
In terms of my own development, if you see the customer hub as sort of a Managed House, I suppose it would be having a ROM [Retail Ops Manager] type of job for the Hub teams. The role also needs to keep up with the times and technology, things like AI, working out what’s most cost effective and the transition between humans and IT.
