Express & Star senior reporter James Vukmirovic speaks to Mad O'Rourkes Pie Factory owner Pete Towler about his life running the iconic restaurant and pub in Tipton, the reasons for wanting to sell it and what the place means to him after 33 years.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Hello, I'm James McMirovich and I'm here at Madder Rocks Pie Factory, one of the places
00:07that when people speak about the Black Country, they speak about Madder Rocks. It is a wonderful
00:12place that produces fantastic pies every week. I'm not just saying that because the owner
00:16Pete Tower is right in front of me, but it's one of those places that speaks of the Black
00:21Country, doesn't it? It is, and it's a great honour really to have this place. I've been
00:27here for so many years. I remember my first day actually, at a desperate dawn as the chef
00:33here, and I couldn't understand a word they were saying, absolutely nothing. But the beauty
00:40of the people of the Black Country, they're so loyal. We've had, there's Sharon, one of
00:44our head chefs, she's been with us 23 years, and the general managers, they've all been
00:51here for a huge amount of time. There's young Kelly who puts the sawdust down, she's been
00:57with us since she was 17 years of age, and she's only ever had one interview, and that
01:01was with me. So, the Black Country's a great place, we're very honoured. And just for yourself,
01:07what is it about this place that makes it so synonymous with the Black Country? Is it
01:11just the fact that people love pies, or is it just the whole feel of the place? I think
01:14it's the whole feel, you know, because a lot of it, we literally do get a huge amount of
01:19tourists here. Americans obviously love it, Japanese, you know, we get people from, I
01:24think it's because we're quite close to the big industrial areas of Birmingham and the
01:29Black Country, you get a lot of foreign work people in, and it's a no-brainer to come here
01:37because it's so eclectically different, and our menu is so different to the run-of-mill
01:42chain pubs. And you've been here for, as you said, about 33 years, from basically man and
01:48boy almost. Well, yeah, I started off, I met Sheena O'Rourke of the O'Rourke family when
01:55I was a waiter on the Kiwi 2, and that's how I got to meet them. But I had family in Birmingham,
02:00so I always wanted to come to Birmingham, and she offered me a job, and I started off
02:06here as a manager 33-odd years ago, I think, lived upstairs, and, you know, when Sheena
02:14and Colin decided to sell up, they sold up to Usher's at Trowbridge, then they had it for one
02:20year, didn't do a great job, so then I purchased it on August 1st, 2000. And I'm guessing that at
02:27the time, you obviously spent time working here, you could see the potential of the place. Yeah,
02:32it's the only one, out of all of the little pub companies, which was the O'Rourke's pub chain,
02:36this was the only real one that made, was famous in every aspect, you know, it's been synonymous
02:44to the chain and to this area, yeah. What have you done over the years to sort of put your mark
02:50on it? Well, I've always been food-let, you know, where Columbia O'Rourke was more of a beer side
02:57of it and that, but for my background, my father's a baker, I'm a Columbia baker, it was always from
03:04that angle of food, you know, my background was high-level food, so it was more a case of getting
03:11food better and putting it to a different level, and we virtually make everything in-house. We go
03:18through over a ton of potatoes a week, you know, which we sliced, we batter the chips, which is
03:24synonymous to the black country, and so everything is done, you know, we've used the same butcher for
03:31nearly 15 years, you know, so we make, it's all about the quality. And there've been, there were
03:39financial issues in the past with the financial crash, with the global financial crisis, how did
03:44you manage to sort of ride through that and come through the other end of it? Yeah, well, it was terribly painful, you know, what it
03:49really was, was more about, this place was always secure, it was the other two pumps that we opened, one in
03:55Worsley, one in Gornham. Two mistakes there, one, they were too close to here, and because of the financial
04:03crash. So this one was always okay, but fortunately we could save this one, but we couldn't save the other two. And then
04:11since that happened, it teaches you a lesson, you know, it makes you think very strongly about how
04:16things go, and it was a few years ago now, but you know, it's gotten stronger and stronger. But the main
04:22issue now is, I've been away from the day-to-day running of this place for five years, so Jenna and
04:28her team, Jenna is the general manager, she's been running it for five years, and I come in once or twice a week, just as a
04:36soundbite, just to see if everything's going okay. Well, we broke the news on Friday that this place
04:42has been put up for sale. We're talking now, can you talk about the reasons behind that? I'm guessing
04:48that it's just, do you feel it's time? Well, the real issue is, is I don't work here full-time anymore, you know, I have
04:56done, and I did it for many years, for health reasons, you know, I had a mini-stroke, I think it was two, three years ago, and there's a lot of
05:05pressure when you've got 35 staff relying on you, literally day-to-day, you know, if everything goes
05:12well, it's great, you know, and this pub has never been so popular as it is right now, you know, all the ups and
05:19downs, this is still an exceptionally busy pub, so I've got to think about, you know, I know it's hard to believe I am 66.
05:26Right. Do you just feel that, as you've been getting older, that it's time for someone else to take over the reins?
05:35Yeah, it's pressure, it's just the pressure of running a business is the main issue, but on top of that, if somebody, you know, people do come along and are interested in the
05:45business, it doesn't necessarily mean I'll sell it to them, because we're not in the need of desperation, if it doesn't suit us and the staff, then we won't sell it.
05:56That's been the biggest fear, because obviously, when we spoke about this on Friday, and over the weekend, people have been saying, oh, this could become a desi pub, oh, they're going to knock it down for housing,
06:05you've been at great pains to say, no, that's not going to happen, we're going to get the right person in.
06:10Without question, you know, number one, it would be suicidal for somebody to bring this into the old desi pub, or knock it down and build houses, because the business makes so much money in comparison to what the land cost is.
06:26You know, so, in Tipton, the land cost is a lot lower than what the value of the building is, and it's a synonymous building.
06:35And for anyone who would be looking to take this over, I'm assuming that you would want it to stay as Madder Rourke's Pie Factory?
06:42Well, we sell in the trademarks with it as well, we have the trademark of Madder Rourke's, which nobody can touch, even Colomer Rourke can't even open a pub with his brand name now.
06:51And then there's the Lump Hammer beer, which is our trademark beer. So, it's a different scenario, you know, it's the only way to go forward, it's to run it as a business.
07:03And, if somebody, you know, does it sensibly, it's quite an easy brand to roll out, and open up in places like Birmingham, etc.
07:13For you, who would be the right person to take over?
07:18I really find that a hard question. Until I meet them, I find that very hard.
07:23Somebody who can, you know, basically, look, I think it would be nice if somebody could roll it out as a chain, because I think it's, you know, we've done it ourselves, and we were very successful doing it.
07:34Crash or no crash, it was a very successful job.
07:38But, I wasn't good enough to roll it out, so it needs to be somebody who knows how to manage a big business like this.
07:46And, as and when the sale happens, what's next for you?
07:50Retirement, you know, simple, you know, play a bit of golf maybe. But, I literally only do about four or five hours a week now, as it is, so it's not going to make a big difference.
08:02It's just, I'm used now as a sounding board by the management here. Obviously, well, my knowledge of the industry is very big. So, no, nothing, not a lot.
08:15But, from your time here, 33 years here and 25 years actually running, owning and running the place, what do you think your legacy is going to be?
08:23Well, hopefully the quality of the food. You know, it literally is, you know, I've changed it quite dramatically.
08:30I've put all the bedrooms in upstairs, five en-suites and five nearly en-suites, which makes everyone laugh, which are also full virtually 80% of the time.
08:42So, it's building up the business in different aspects. It's the maintenance of the building, which is a huge aspect.
08:49I think we average about three and a half thousand people a week walking through the door. So, you've got to think of the wear and tear of the building.
08:58So, yeah, you know, a garden, the exotic garden we have here and other aspects. So, hopefully everybody will think of it nicely.
09:09But, if something doesn't come along, it will be the end of the world.
09:13And finally, what does Madder Rocks Pie Factory mean to you?
09:16Oh, everything, everything. It's quite emotional, but yeah, everything.