I’ve climbed Everest, gambled in Las Vegas and visited 106 countries around the world – all since joining the travelling circus straight from school.
Now I’m the food and beverage manager of Manchester235 and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
We’re starting afresh and we’re ready to shake up Manchester with a huge overhaul of the way we do things here using my experience and a crack team of the best staff in the city.
In this, my first column for MM where I will be letting you all know how we’re getting on at Manchester 235 with all the latest developments, I’ll start with some background about myself.
I’m an Aussie adrift in the UK. Born in Sydney, I’ve lived over here since 2005 where I thought I would do a little travelling and try some new things.
I liked it so much that I’ve only been back home once.
You’re probably wondering about that little circus line dropped in at the top too. Well, it’s true: I left school and joined the circus, in the typically laid-back Fosters-sense of Australia.
But I must dampen that image you now have formed, of me swinging from the rafters of the Cirque Du Soleil on a trapeze.
I did join the Cirque Du Soleil when I was 18, but in a role which began my career working in hospitality.
I oversaw their bar where we hired 250 temporary staff in every city we travelled to across Australia.
We hired them, trained them and then operated for two months before moving the whole thing on and starting all over again in a different city.
The Cirque Du Soleil moved on from Australia eventually and we cut our ties there, as I always knew I fancied coming across to Blighty.
My work ethic is ‘work hard, play hard’, in what could also pass as the unofficial Australian national motto.
As soon as I came to England I hit work hard, becoming a general manager of a bar at the age of 22, and a small regional manager at 24.
It’s through hard work that dreams come to fruition. It’s allowed me to cruise the Nile, travel on the trans-Siberian railway, travel through Russia and live in Japan for a year.
Now I’m here at Manchester235 and prepared to work just as hard to make our casino, restaurant and bar the go-to place for Mancunians any time of the day or night, seven days a week.
As you may have read on MM recently, our bar is now called The Vega Lounge, named after the second brightest star in the northern celestial hemisphere, and it also makes you think about the glitz and glamour of Vegas.
That’s the idea, anyway.
It will be up and running next week, replacing the old Fusion bar, and you can expect unique creations that won’t be available anywhere else.
We’ve teamed up with our own designers who constructed prototypes of ideas I had for new drinks and ways of serving them, to make drinking in Manchester235 a thoroughly unforgettable experience.
Expect a new and improved cocktail menu, stemless martini glasses in bespoke ‘king of clubs’ docking stations and even a big metal safe complete with raging sparklers to make your drink look like it’s been blown out of its box with dynamite.
Don’t believe me? You’ll have to come down and see for yourself.
The bar is going to be bigger – a lot longer – it’s going to look better and it’s designed more cleverly which will ultimately make service a lot faster.
Our new cocktails will feature foam garnishes and we’ll also have ‘shots roulette’, where the shot glasses come in a mini roulette wheel.
I’ve helped mould our new menu into what it is, and I’m overseeing the whole refurbishment to try and sprinkle a little bit of international magic over what we do.
There’s so much more to tell you but I simply haven’t got the space here.
For now, I thought I would give you a little heads up about who I am and what Manchester235 is doing, and I’ll have more information in my next instalment of this column.
So pop down, say hello and check out The Vega Lounge. We would love to have you.
Take care and I’ll be back soon.
For more information visit www.manchester235.com
For more on this story and many others, follow Mancunian Matters on Twitter and Facebook.
