by Dr. Iain Corness
The
general manager of the Kilkenny Irish Pub and Restaurant is Tim Rawlinson,
a congenial lad born in Liverpool, who describes his life as “being in
the right place, at the right time, with the right beer”.
His first “right place” was Liverpool, where he was
born, the youngest of five to a serviceman in the British Royal Air Force.
Servicemen tend to be shunted around, and Rawlinson Senior was no
exception, so young Tim was placed in boarding school in Essex, only
seeing his father and mother (whom he described as “an angel”) during
school holidays.
He was a bright lad, and his parents had high hopes
that he would excel academically. However, they were rewarded with report
cards that said “a bright boy, but could do better”!
By the time he had finished secondary school he thought
that he would like a career as a civil engineer, building bridges in
Africa and dams in the deserts, so enrolled at the Polytechnic to begin
the slog towards those aims. After a couple of years at the Polytechnic,
he awoke one morning and began to count the years it would take to become
that bridge builder. Only another six to go. “It was too long,” said
Tim and dropped out.
He had been doing some part-time work for a local
travel agency, and took their job offer. He very quickly became the
manager and used his position to see the world, travel agents being
offered “fam (familiarization) trips” to exotic places. “I was a
travel prostitute,” said Tim, but after five years he became tired of
sending other people to exciting places as well, and took a job as a
financial advisor with TSB, a UK High Street bank. There, after a 12 week
course, he learned how to invest other people’s money. It was also
there, after two years, he found that he detested the job! He did not
believe in the products or services he was expected to sell. He was having
a struggle with the morality of it all and walked away from his bank
manager’s job.
He did not have to walk far for his next job. He had
been also working part-time in the local pub on Sundays, a job he enjoyed.
“It’s a job where you can watch people enjoying themselves,” said
Tim, “and I like the banter in the bar.” Even his father was moved to
say, “You’ve finally found the job that suits you!”
It was not only his father that felt he had moved into
the best job for him. He started at the pub full-time at 5 p.m. on the
Friday and by 9 a.m. Monday he had been made the manager!
This move turned into a very successful venture for
Tim. I asked him if this was just through him, or were there other
factors? “It was partly me,” said Tim. “I was a fresh canvas. There
was a benefit because I had lived all over Europe (following his
‘nomadic’ father) and I put all my energies into it. However, I have
always been blessed with fantastic staff. It’s not the experience, you
have to choose (people with) the right qualities.”
The pub, and the group it was run by, were to take up
the next six years of Tim’s life but after that time he needed a break,
a change, a vacation. Seven years previously he had come to Phuket for a
holiday and found it awe inspiring. “The people, the place. It was
perfect.” So he decided to come for a holiday again. He reviewed his
life. He was divorced. He had no children and no ties. “What am I doing
here?” he said when he returned to the UK. It was after this that he
decided he wanted to live here, and planned for the move. He sold two
houses and his car all in the same week, and arrived in Phuket for a
holiday that was to last two years. Like the old adage that runs ‘If you
want to make a small fortune in Thailand, arrive here with a large one!’
that was Tim’s two years. “I had lost all my money,” he said
ruefully.
He was drowning his sorrows in a bar when his lucky
mantra appeared again of “being in the right place, at the right time,
with the right beer”. The landlord of the bar, when he heard that Tim
was going to have to return to the UK, offered him the position as manager
of an Irish pub in Phuket! This was Molly Malone’s, and this position
was then followed by another, Scruffy Murphy’s, and a leap up the
corporate ladder to oversee them both.
It did not take long for the management group to decide
they wanted to open a similar establishment in Pattaya, and two years ago
Tim was sent here to open The Kilkenny Irish Pub and Restaurant. His plan
was to set up the pub and return to Phuket, but the best laid plans of
mice and men can go astray – especially by the advent of the tsunami.
Both Molly Malone’s and Scruffy Murphy’s were devastated and there
were only ruins to return to. (Incidentally both have managed to reopen
this year.)
The die having been cast, Tim was to remain in Pattaya.
“Initially I found it a bit of a rat race, but six months later I found
it (Pattaya) had everything. It’s an adult Disneyland, but they let you
in for free!”
He certainly has settled here now, “I’m here for as
long as I’m welcome.” He is now married, and one of his ambitions is
to see his 14 year old step-daughter achieve all of her ambitions. He also
believes that working with Thai people has made him a better person.
“Tantrums don’t work. You can get your point across without having to
shout.”
Tim Rawlinson has found not only the job that suits him, but the
location as well.
