About Spirit Pub Company

Spirit Pub Company have a fantastic and award-winning development offer for people in the pubs and in the support centre. This is displayed on an open website for all to see and offers programmes of development backed by qualifications for all levels within the organisation. The company are involved in a number of activities that drive down unemployment as well as supporting young people in their development and career planning. They offer work experience to 16-24 year olds and run hospitality sector based work academies offer a bespoke 2-8 week training programme for the unemployed with a guaranteed interview at the end. They also work in partnership with the b-live Foundation which provides curriculum led information, advice and guidance to schools in the UK.

Spirit Pub Company offers “employee care”, an employee assistance programme, provided by First Assist. It’s a confidential service where employees have access to a website and a helpline providing advice and support on all aspects of their lives from financial concerns through to quitting smoking. The helpline is available 24 hours a day 365 days a year and is completely free of charge. There is also a telephone counselling service and face to face counselling service available. They also offer employees at the support centre a discounted gym membership at a local golf and country club in Burton where employees can receive a corporate rate peak membership of £49 per month with no joining fee, compared to their usual rate of £65.50 with a £199 joining fee. Memberships can be extended to golf at a special rate too.

In July, Spirit Pub Company held a Summer Bash at their support centre organised by their fun and fundraising team, GRIN, giving employees the opportunity to socialise. They wanted to give a relaxed feel to the event so right from the start they themed it as though the invitation was coming from “Cosmic the Dog” rather than Spirit. The name Cosmic came from the entertainment which they had organised, a fun band called the Cosmic Sausages who went from table to table singing and interacting with our employees. The event, held in the atrium where the bar is located, was totally free to employees and included BBQ food, a full range of drinks and entertainment. Employees could finish work at 4pm to join in the fun. Their atrium was so full with employees that they needed to re-jig the chairs and tables to fit everyone in. Cosmic became famous and the excitement spread, employees were talking about it for weeks running up to and after the event. So much so that they are bringing Cosmic back later in the year for their Christmas bash! Their new approach of “making people smile” has helped to break down barriers between the support team and the operations team to work more effectively.