Landlord Grant Hayes of The North Star pub in St Leonards is retiring.
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00:00Well I actually started running my own pubs when I was 40, 20 years ago. I've been in
00:07and around bars ever since I started work, working on pleasure boats on the River Thames.
00:12We run our own bars there. So I got to learn a lot to do with bar work when I was younger.
00:20Then as I got older, helping people out in pubs and bars. And then when I was 40, decided
00:25right it's time to do it for real and put my money where my mouth is and have a go at
00:31running a pub. And that's what I've been doing ever since. I came to the North Star as an
00:37operative in February 2023. But I've been in and out of the pub for about 10 years since
00:44I lived in Hastings. I've been, not very frequent, but every now and again I'd pop in, have a
00:50couple of pints while I was waiting for a takeaway to be done down the road. So I knew
00:53a lot about the pub before I even took it over. What I miss about the pub is the customers
00:58and the staff. It's been an absolute crack working here. It's been fun. I've loved every
01:04minute of it. It's a brilliant little pub. It's got some great customers, some real characters
01:09here. It's one of the friendliest pubs I've known for a long, long time. I'm going to
01:15miss that, the whole atmosphere, everything that goes on with a cheesy bingo and the karaoke's
01:20and the charity nights that we do. I miss all of that. I miss the people that I've got
01:24working for me. And when I retire, there's no real plans. I'm going to take it easy for
01:32a few months, just to have a bit of a rest, have a bit of a long holiday, and then just
01:40see what happens. I'm not going to go into any other work. This is it. I am retiring
01:45now, so a few little hobbies, restoring furniture, get back into playing golf, get a bit more
01:53serious about playing darts. That's about it really. They're interviewing people at
01:57the moment to come in. They're hoping to keep it within Craft Union operatives because they
02:04know how the system all works. There's a lot of people that do want this pub because it's
02:09one of the best performing pubs within Craft Union in the entire country for the percentages.
02:14So it's a very attractive pub on paper for someone to come and take over. And once they
02:21come and see the place and get involved with the people they see, it is actually a brilliant
02:25little pub. So within three or four weeks, there'll be someone here taking over. Hopefully
02:33they'll keep a lot of the same things going on, but they'll bring their own energy, their
02:37own ideas, and their own way of doing things to the pub. Hopefully they keep all the staff
02:42on that can point them in the right direction and tell them how everything works here. But
02:47they'll bring their own personality to it. But I also hope they keep all the charity
02:52stuff going because we've done a lot for charity in this pub. And I hope that they carry all
02:57that on as well. To all the regulars, I'd like to say thank you for a wonderful two
03:01years. It's been absolutely brilliant. And it's not only the pub that has grown, I've
03:06also grown since I've been here. Since I've been in this pub, I met a wonderful woman
03:12and got married just the other week. So I've grown along with the pub and it has been the
03:20best couple of years of my life in pubs. It's been absolutely brilliant. And I'd like to
03:24thank all the customers for that.