by Dr. Iain
Corness
The
best known publican in Pattaya would have to be Kim Fletcher, the landlord
at Shenanigans (Delaney’s in its previous life). Some time ago I wrote
about Kim’s birthday saying, “If you are born in a stable you are not
necessarily a horse. If you are born in a pub, however, you will probably
be a publican.” These were not prophetic words, they were merely
recording history.
Kim Fletcher’s parents were also publicans, and Kim
was born in their pub in Kent. On the 24th of July 1956, his mother (AKA
Edna, the Queen of Maidstone) got everything ready for the lunch trade and
then ten minutes before closing had Kim. To celebrate the event, his
father gave out free drinks for the final ten minutes, thankful that Kim
hadn’t been born thirty minutes before closing!
Kim covered his early childhood stating that Maidstone
was famous for its prisons, its army bases and it shut on Wednesday
afternoons, allowing young Kim to scarper off and get into mischief;
however, his early leanings were towards cooking and he went off to become
a chef.
Cooking being a portable skill suited him, and he took
his souffl้s through the sandy deserts of the Middle East, before
ending up in Thailand. Here, through a series of adventures (or
misadventures) he finally ended up hanging up his apron and putting on a
landlord’s hat.
Local knowledge will show that Kim took over
Shenanigans on Second Road very early in its history. This was not a
smooth transition, as Kim had some very different ideas on where the pub
was headed, as up till then it had been considered a rather
‘exclusive’ hostelry. Kim’s philosophy was simple. “Customers
should be able to enjoy themselves - no matter how they look.” He had
some preconceived ideas that his pub should have a rugby team, be involved
with golf tournaments, the Hash House Harriers and the Jesters Motorcycle
Club. This was really moving the establishment away from ‘the
establishment’!
Kim admitted that in those early months he received a
degree of flak from the previous customers. “An awful lot,” said Kim,
“But you have to believe in your own beliefs or you are nobody. I wanted
to change the pub from being ‘elitist’ to a pub for the people.”
I asked Kim just how he came up with the various
concepts that he wanted to apply to the running of the (then new) pub.
“Everything is committed to paper. I have a lousy memory and I’d
forget it otherwise. You plan ahead and follow it for six months. If it
goes wrong, either change jobs or change the tack!”
There would be nobody who does not understand that
changes occur constantly, but many are probably not aware of how changes
affect the life of your Shenanigans publican. “You really have to plan
ahead. Remember I used to be a chef and (in that business) you do a thing
called ‘mis en place’ which means you have to get everything prepared
and ready. Changes? Well, for example, we’ve had to make changes to the
golf tournaments and have a women’s champion as well, as the men were
getting tired of losing to the women. We change the menu every three
months, but this takes over a month of meetings to get the new menu
together. Look at rugby promotions - this doesn’t happen overnight, you
have to put in proposals - and follow them up.”
We all tend to work longer hours in Thailand than we
did in our home countries, and for Kim Fletcher this is the same. He
(conservatively) estimates he does 72 hours a week, but work includes
split shifts and getting home at around 3 a.m. every morning after the pub
shuts. Of those 72 hours, roughly four hours a day are spent on
administrative duties. “This week we had the debriefing from the golf,
the Formula 1 party, the soccer and discussions on the Guinness promotion.
We also had a meeting about the toilets!”
That is the Kim Fletcher that nobody really sees. The
public Kim Fletcher is the man who sits at the ‘Superstar’ table and
entertains people. I have always been amazed at Kim’s ability to
remember everyone’s drink as they come in, and this time managed to
extract the secret from him. “I give people nicknames that incorporates
their drink. Like Heineken Phil or Gin and Tonic Terry.” There you are,
simple when you know how! The Kim that sits at ‘Superstar’ is also
working. “The table is placed where I can see everybody and make sure
they are happy.”
So is the public face of a publican one long round of
drinks? (Or getting off one’s face?) Not really. “Life for me is one
long round of questions. Constantly. All the time. Where does our Guinness
come from? Is our Thai food authentic? Why don’t we keep such and such
brand diet soft drinks? You are one big information source.”
Is Kim complaining? Not at all. “I love it! There’s
not a better job in the world. In Pattaya you get all sorts of people
coming to see you. It’s great, a real injection of fun!”
And while he obviously does enjoy the life of a
publican, he also admits that it is not an easy one. “I hear about all
these people who want to come here to retire and run a pub. I always
laugh. Their current job can’t be more difficult than running a pub!”
So is Kim looking at heading off somewhere to retire
with a smaller pub? “I couldn’t see myself living anywhere else but
Pattaya. It’s changing. It’s growing up. It’s a more mature town.”
He continued, “I’d like to make this place a
concert venue for smaller international acts, there’s comedy nights too,
professional and amateur, ...” I had to stop him there - we had run out
of time - but Kim had not run out of ideas! A true professional publican.
