TBK Remembers CHESTER ( The City)

 

Neil Porter , Assistant Manager ( Personnel and Training ). Chester Post House- 1984

Glad to hear that the Memories were well received and the first one is dedicated to the first person to respond and left the choice of memory to me!

I already wrote about part one of my working life (https://thebritishkabayan.blogspot.com/2020/05/my-working-life-act-2-22-to-50-years.html) and after being a Trainee Manager with what was then Trusthouse Forte Hotels ( Thf) in 1982 I was given my first position as:

Assistant Manager ( Personnel and Training ) ( see photo above)

at what was then Chester Posthouse :

                                My parents at Chester Post House

Back then it was just 60 rooms and was a U shape with the restaurant upstairs at the front and the two wings of bedrooms at the left and right rear. Downstairs was a bar , which had a lunchtime bar food operation, and it opened out onto a patio with a garden between the two wings of bedrooms. Back then in 1984 there was a field with two horses at the rear. 

                The Garden in the centre of the new hotel

It has now doubled in size and is a square, the field and horses gone and a leisure centre added. ( well that was how it was the last time I visited in  2009!)

It is now called the Holiday Inn, Chester South:

Some of the photos are taken from the web and some are my original photos:

     Looking after the kids at the family Sunday lunch- Frank Harvey front right

I found a bedsit in Chichester street in the City of Chester and sometimes would cycle to walk , or get a taxi. When I was Duty Manager we had to stay in the hotel and as it was often full that meant sleeping on a put-up bed in a meeting room! We had to stay up until the last customer went to bed and lock up and take the safe keys. Then a few hours later we had to be the first up to open up for the receptionist to get her float. In between we would help out where needed in the restaurant at breakfast, with the tour luggage, meeting enquiries, check out on reception , bar lunch, group arrivals and check ins and dinner. Occasionally I would get to chat to customers in the bar after dinner. We had many regulars who stayed for several months at a time, or came back time after time , and lots of tour groups. Chester , a walled medieval city, was one of the top 5 cities visited by most tour groups ( London, Oxford, Chester, York, Edinburgh) . Most coaches dropped off their passengers in the city where a licenced guide would take them on a walking tour and then the coach would deliver the luggage to the hotel. That gave us time to put the cases outside the bedrooms before the coach returned with the guests. They would then check in and have a rest before dinner.

           Francis ( Frank) Harvey and I out for lunch somewhere!

The weekends were very busy with weddings and tour groups and of course, as Assistant Manager ( with a Deputy and General Manager above me) I got to work most weekends . That meant Late shift Friday, all day Saturday and Sunday and early shift Monday then home to sleep for my two days off , an office day on Thursday to deal with “ Personnel and Training “ as it was then called ( HR Nowadays). This  involved advertising vacancies, interviewing potential new staff, Induction training, Fire Training ( I was the hotel Fire safety officer) and conducting Fire drills, Testing the alarms etc. We had a great team when I started with Francis A Harvey as General Manager ( who lived with his wife and daughter Lisa in a house in the grounds ) and Chris Johnson as the Deputy. Janet was the accountant ( and for a time my Girlfriend ) and Jane the Head Housekeeper, Joyce the Bars Supervisor, Barrie the Head Chef, Frankie was Head Receptionist and Keith the Restaurant Manager ( how about that for a good memory, 37 years on).

On my days off I would explore the City and one of my favourite places to go was Blossoms Hotel where I met the Asst Manager, Jean Pierre Trabut and a local restaurant manager, who also drank there, called David Bottomley. We would sit and chat and drink at the bar and occasionally get taken out to dinner by visiting guests or go to eat at David’s place down by the river Dee. There was a beautiful Cathedral and the old city walls still remained in part so you could walk around the city. There was also a racecourse down by the river.

                                          Inside the beautiful Chester Cathedral

I was there for two and a half years and has various different relationships with staff I recruited like waitresses Liz and Julie, and a couple of girls in the Housekeeping Department. I am still in touch with two people I met at the hotel to this day.

The Centre of Chester was pedestrianised and the shops were on 2 levels ( The Rows) 

As I mentioned Chester was a very popular city so many friends and family came to visit, including my parents who stayed at the hotel. Unfortunately , due to an IT problem , I have now lost all my digital photos of Chester but I have scanned my last few actual photos

I had to explain what a photo album was to Noel and Frythy when I was writing this blog!

I hope you have enjoyed reading my walk down memory lane as much as I enjoyed researching and writing it. I was very lucky in the UK to live and work in some beautiful places like Worcester and Chester. However the weather here in the Philippines is much better, I do not have to pay tax and I am enjoying my retirement here. I sold my house in the UK in 2004 and left for good in 2010 and have never returned and do not think I ever will. However I have fond memories of my time there. If you want me to share any more memories just let me know!

Until the next time this is The British Kabayan signing out....