A new keeper for Cawdor Castle
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Brett Gubbins takes a breather outside Cawdor Castle.
AN Englishman’s home may be his castle, but for Brett Gubbins, his castle is not his home, but his perfect job.
In January, Brett took over as general manager of Cawdor Castle, one of only a handful of attractions given a five star VisitScotland rating.
"This is the perfect role for me," Brett declared.
"It’s brought my complete experience range and skill set into one position. It’s an acute learning curve, but I’m really enjoying it."
Dating back to the 14th century, Cawdor Castle is not just a tourist attraction, but the home of the Dowager Countess of Cawdor, Lady Angelika.
It is very different from a corporate product. Brett certainly does not want to change that, but does want to introduce industry best practice to the business.
The job also has the significant attraction of allowing Brett to go home every night to the Black Isle.
"Prior to Cawdor, I spent five years in contracting," he revealed.
"It was literally packing a suitcase and going from Dubai to Dundee, so it’s wonderful to be able to sleep in your own bed.
"There was no glamour involved whatsoever. I remember a guy telling me that working away from home you either become an alcoholic or a workaholic. I obviously chose the latter. You’d end up doing 100 hour weeks without thinking, but doing that you eventually burn out."
Born in Edinburgh but brought up in the English Midlands, Brett has divided national loyalties — having a Scottish wife, Belinda, and with four of his six children born in Scotland.
When it comes to rugby, however, his loyalty is firmly with England having been selected to play for the country at under-19 level, though he is perhaps making amends by helping Highland Rugby Club identify the Scottish rugby stars of the future as a youth
coach.
His own rugby career was curtailed by a mix of injury and the demands of a career in the hospitality industry.
Inspired by his older brother’s tales of working in London hotels, Brett also went on to learn his trade in London, working in properties ranging in size from 25 to 1000 rooms, before going on to senior roles in both Scotland and England for some of the industry’s biggest names including Sheraton, Whitbread and Pizza Express.
"I’ve been really lucky in that I’ve worked in more or less every sector of hospitality and related industries," Brett said.
"I worked in project management, building hotels and building and refurbishing restaurants: I’d look at the architect’s plans and say: ‘Yes, it’s pretty — but it doesn’t work.’"
However, with Belinda expecting child number three, the family returned to Scotland, where Brett was catering and hospitality manager for the SECC before running his own hotel in Fort William.
"I ran it for five years and it almost finished me," he admitted.
"In season I’d be working 18 hours a day every day. Even playing with my children, I’d still be thinking about the problems I had to sort out."
An escape route came when Swallow Hotels appointed him operations director, overseeing 18 hotels. The family moved to the Black Isle, but when the Swallow Group went into administration, the lack of suitable vacancies in the Inverness area sent Brett on the road as a consultant.
"I had no intention of living out of a suitcase for five years, but that’s the way it worked out," he added.
So it is probably with relief, as well as excitement, that Brett comes to his new role at the castle where, as well as overseeing the day to day running, one of his key tasks is creating a five-year plan looking at how the castle might develop in the near future.
"Our highest number of visitors was 100,000 and we had 85,000 last year, so it’s not as if we have to build a business," he pointed out.
"It’s more about understanding our place in the global market to maintain our position as one of the key visitor attractions in the Highlands.
"It’s not about re-inventing the product. Whatever we do in the future has to be sympathetic to this incredible setting and we also have to be mindful that it is still the home to Lady Cawdor."
Stepping into the post in January, Brett oversaw the usual close season maintenance, a harder task than usual because of the harsh winter. He also modernised the castle’s recruitment procedures for seasonal staff and was on the point of seeing the castle re-carpeted, but ran out of time before the start of the new season.
Adding to the new challenges for the manager was an earlier than ever opening time of the Easter weekend, instead of the usual May Day opening.
So how did Brett feel when he welcomed his first paying customers on 22nd April?
"Incredibly excited," he said.
"After four fairly long months for me it was great to see the business finally open. I was actually quite shocked at 10am on Friday morning to see a queue of about 25 people waiting to get in, especially because we opened so early this
year."
That hurdle over, Brett can now take a closer look at how the business operates when the paying customers come over the drawbridge in order to see what can be done better.
"I’m not necessarily looking to grow the volume of visitors. I’m looking to create an environment where that visitor can enjoy the product even more," he revealed.
However, he at least does not have to worry about Cawdor hosting another major pop concert this year despite the success of the castle’s first show headlined by Westlife last August.
"We only want to do something to the best of our ability," he explained.
"We don’t want to have just an OK concert. What we have for 2012 is something we think is worth waiting for. That said, we have been looking at alternative events and will be announcing them shortly."
Smaller scale events, such as the annual Living Food organic and environmental food festival and the outdoor Shakespeare performances, will continue. Cawdor has also emphasised the importance of its events by employing a dedicated events officer.
For the immediate future, however, Brett is just waiting to see what the summer brings.
"To be honest, I have no idea how the season is going to go," he said.
"Group reservations are stronger than they were last year — though whether these will translate into actual customers, who can tell?"
Looking further ahead though, what would he like Shakespeare’s three weird sisters to predict from the end of his first five year plan?
"First and foremost, I would like Cawdor to maintain its five-star status. That underpins everything we do," he said.
"I’d like to think there would be more activity on the shoulder of the season and more involvement with the emerging markets such as China and South America."
Technology should also make an impact with more use of mobile phone apps and handheld electronic guides.
Not that the importance of face-to-face interaction will be forgotten.
"If you are a people person, this is the only business to be in," Brett declared.
"Every day I get to meet between 200 and 300 people.
"I think that’s why a lot of the staff have been with us season after season. They love the opportunity to make friends with 85,000 people."
