1st December 2007
Meet Hook Norton’s new operations manager.
Jo Butler has a fantastic job – she visits Hook Norton pubs for a living. She has recently been appointed as the company’s second operations manager, and is responsible for 24 of the family brewer’s pubs, located in north Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire and Warwickshire.
Her colleague Phil Thomas is responsible for the rest of the company’s estate of 47 pubs. Hook Norton’s appointment of two operations managers is a significant investment by the brewer.
It is a sign of Hook Norton’s commitment to supporting the independent business people who run its pubs. Jo Butler said: “Hook Norton is a family run business, which has very close links with the tenants who run its pubs. “My job is not desk-based at the brewery as I will have to spend time in every one of the pubs I am responsible for.
“Each pub on the state is an independent business and it is part of my role is to support the tenants as they build their businesses. “Helping licensees improve quality standards through training initiatives such as Cask Marque is an important element of my job.” Hook Norton Managing Director James Clarke said: “The role of Jo Butler and Phil Thomas is to help our tenants maintain high standards and run successful pubs.
“Over the next few years we will slowly grow our estate. Part of the job of the operations manager is to ensure we find the right people, with equally high standards, who are committed to the area and want to run one of our pubs.” Anyone interested in running a Hook Norton pub should go to:
