If you’ve been admiring London’s skyline whilst kicking back on the Queen of Hoxton’s renowned roof terrace or lapping up East London’s most cultural events at The Book Club’s or even devouring a boozy brunch at Stories, then you’ve been enjoying Heather Lawton’s success; the Mothership Group.
At the age of 33, Heather is the creative driving force behind the Mothership’s emerging bar empire, which she co-directs with her two business partners; Jon Ross, the Commercial Director and Andy Maddocks, the Operations Director. Together they have the ambition to open at least 6 more thriving bars within three years, the group are achieving big things, and they are taking all of their staff along for the ride.
“In the bar world, its important that everyone that we employ has their finger on the pulse of the London scene. More importantly, that they all have the ability to engage with people they may have never met before – the skills for the job can be taught, but you can’t teach someone to have a personality.”
Heather manages the Creative Team currently made up of six members from PR’s to programmers, with a core focus on customer experience. The savvy team handpicks everything from interior design to event programming and branding. Over 100 staff at Mothership bring the whole vision together.
Although, Heather didn’t just walk straight into one of London’s biggest success stories.
“Pot washing at my local working man’s club, in Kent, was my real first experience of the industry. I was running around glass collecting whilst bingo was on. Very rock n roll!”
Heather moved on from pot washing to study Sports Science. After realising that her heart wasn’t quite in sport, she completed a BA Honours in Media and Marketing at Canterbury Christ Church University, something that she applies to her role in the pub and bar industry.
“Throughout all of my years at university I worked as bar staff in a lot of different pubs and bars. Although, none of them explained the industry career path to me, I had to figure that one out for myself.”
Promoting and flyering for the Key club in Kings Cross, London, is what got her foot in the door. From there her passion for events was born, booking DJ’s and programing big nights became a full-time job.
Earning a reputation for hosting nights that became a trustworthy staple in London, she was called in to Mothership to look after their DJ led events.
“I progressed up the ranks from Events Co-ordinator to Marketing Manager to Marketing Director. I was invited to be joint director of the business at the age of 28 – that was absolutely the proudest moment of my career. Even now though, people don’t understand the industry, a lot of people think I’m just pulling pints.”
As Creative Director her first job was to revamp the Queen of Hoxton with a new concept, look and programme of events.
Heather is a firm believer that hospitality is by far the best industry to be in – work hard and play hard, is the mentality.
“All roles within the industry offer life and career experiences. You learn everything from communication skills to budgeting to people management. When you find your niche’ there is no stopping you in getting to the top in your game.”
An average day in the life of the Creative Director consists of menu tasting, booking DJs, web design, creating engaging content, meeting suppliers – the list is endless, but one thing is for sure, the list isn’t ending there.
“Mothership has got the new venues to look forward to, and some brilliant new careers to kick start in those venues.“
For more information about the Mothership group please visit: http://mothershipgroup.com
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