Unsurprisingly, the benefits mean staff retention is high
General manager James Billson and assistant manager Jodie Roberts outside Coal & Cotton(Image: Jason Roberts /Manchester Evening News)
The hospitality industry isn’t exactly known for its perks. Working unsociable hours in often uncomfortable temperatures, it’s no surprise that places struggle to recruit.
But there’s one pub that has people champing at the bit to work there and it’s Coal & Cotton in Boothstown, Salford, known for producing its own hand-crafted Boothstown Gin.
It first shared its list of staff perks publicly after the pandemic, when the hospitality sector was suffering from severe staff shortages. With EU workers leaving after Brexit and people getting a taste of life away from the industry during lockdown, it meant vacancy rates were higher than ever.
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Since then Coal & Cotton, co-owned by Jason Green and David Salmon, has only added to its staff benefits and the list is a long one.
From the very start everyone gets 28 days holiday, with an extra day off on their birthday. For every year they stay, they accrue an extra day’s holiday on top of that.
Coal & Cotton in Boothstown(Image: Jason Roberts /Manchester Evening News)
Every birthday they get a £100 voucher to spend in the pub, with the same on their anniversary of starting work, as well as £100 for team member of the month.
There are all-expenses paid team nights, an uncapped bonus scheme for management and the best bit – when they’ve been there five years, they get £2,000 towards the cost of a holiday.
General manager James Billson has been at the pub since it opened seven years ago, just a few months before Covid struck, and with 20 years’ experience in the industry, says he’s never known a place look after its employees so well.
“We get a lot of people who don’t believe it’s true, they’re baffled somebody would do that,” he said. “But team retention in this industry is poor and the way we work, where everybody feels part of it, only benefits us at the end of the day.
“We’ve always tried to look after them in the sense of finding that work life balance. There’s no point in burning people out to the point they don’t want to work here any more.”
General manager James Billson and assistant manager Jodie Roberts have both been at Coal & Cotton since it opened (Image: Jason Roberts /Manchester Evening News)
The fact that staff stay there – James isn’t the only one who’s been there since the place launched – he says is a key part of the venue’s success.
“For the community in the area they get to know the team and it builds that community feel,” said James. “People come and feel part of it, they know people by name and we’ve got a lot of regular clientele. For any hospitality business that’s the best marketing tool, that people come back, especially in a place like Boothstown as it’s not like the city centre where you get passing trade.”
Unlike some establishments with rigid shift patterns that don’t always work around people with families, James says they’ve always taken a flexible approach with workers and it’s been mutually beneficial.
“If we’re not flexible, it’s just counter productive to what we’re trying to create,” said the dad-of-two. “If we said ‘this is the way it is’, it wouldn’t work, we try to do things differently.
“We’ve all worked together for a long time and we respect each other. We have some staff doing split shifts and some doing three long days. If it works for us and works for them then it’s all good.
“I know that they know they could find an easier gig, but they stay and work hard for each other and work hard for us and people have been here a long time so they don’t want to let anybody down.”
It’s known for producing its own hand-crafted Boothstown Gin(Image: Jason Roberts /Manchester Evening News)
The flexible approach has meant that some staff including assistant manager Jodie Roberts have been able to stay in post despite a change in personal circumstances.
She first started working at the pub when it was still The Greyhound and her parents Lorraine and Dek stepped in to help her aunt Jane and husband Don complete their lease after Don fell ill.
“I was 23 then and was offered a job by Jason when they took over,” said Jodie. “I started as a full time bartender and worked my way up to management.
“They’ve been so good with me and were so supportive after my dad died. When I had my twin girls I couldn’t do the evenings anymore so they let me do day shifts. If they’d not been so flexible in offering me day shifts, I would have had to look for work elsewhere.”
Jodie is among those to benefit from the £2,000 towards a holiday and spent it on a trip to Lanzarote with her partner John and twins Milly and Lyla, now three.
“It really helped me a couple of years ago,” she said. “I’ve got two young kids so it’s expensive to take them away. I put a bit of money towards it but it meant we were able to get a holiday together.”
Coal & Cotton reopened in 2019 after a £750,000 transformation(Image: Jason Roberts /Manchester Evening News)
James too has also benefited from a family holiday to Majorca and says that although unsociable shifts come with the territory, it’s meant he’s been able to spend a lot of time with his children, Grace, 10, and seven-year-old Walter.
“I’ve been able to drop them off at school and every time there’s something happening, like an assembly to get to, it means I’m present,” he said. “If I did a typical 9 to 5 that wouldn’t be the case so it does have its benefits.”
And he takes pride in seeing how the other members of staff progress in their roles too.
“We’ve had people come in as kids with not the best social skills and maybe lacking in confidence, all those things,” he said. “To see that grow and watch them grow and see what they become – the level they work at, how pleasant they are and the way they look after the guests – it’s exceptional to see.”
And that’s another thing Coal & Cotton is adamant about – those who choose to spend their money there are ‘guests not customers’.
“We never call them customers, they’re always our guests,” said James, with Jodie adding: “We try to never say ‘no’ to a customer, which is different to a lot of places. If they want something in particular, we’ll do what we can to get that.”
With so many businesses closing during the ongoing cost of living crisis, they don’t have any specific secret to the success of this place, but say they’ve never lost sight of the fact they’re essentially ‘a community pub in Salford’ and ‘grateful for every single person who walks through the door’.
Coal & Cotton(Image: Jason Roberts /Manchester Evening News)
“For us, it’s not about driving business or sales,” said James. “It’s about being warm and inviting. We always try our best and remain humble.
“We’ve never tried to be anything we’re not. We’re a community pub in Salford, where every walk of life would feel comfortable and we treat everyone the same whether they’re coming in for one pint or a three course meal.
“We’re never going to be 100% perfect, but we always try our level best to make it as good as we possibly can to make sure that every guest that comes in wants to come back.”
Despite the high retention rate for staff, there are vacancies from time to time, with some employees returning from university to work there for the busy summer months. Anyone interested can email a copy of their CV to coalandcotton@outlook.com.