How Hexham’s special brew became boss of The Forum

In August, pub manager Steph Brew celebrated the 25^th anniversary of her pub – The Forum (Hexham).

Originally from Carlisle, she moved to Hexham with her family, at the age of six, and has been there ever since.

From the age of 17, Steph was a post office cashier, working her way up to become post office manager at Hexham, spending five years there before moving into a marketing job.

In September 2015, she joined the team at The Forum as a part-time bar associate, working on Saturday or Sunday, alongside her full-time office-based job in marketing.

With the possibility of full-time work and promotion at the Wetherspoon pub, she left her other employment and has never looked back.

Steph said: “I really was not built for an office job – I like to talk to people and have that interaction with customers.”

Within six months of joining Wetherspoon, Steph was a full-time team leader and, three months later, then stepped up to shift leader.

After one year with the company, she decided to aim for a shift manager position.

Steph recalled: “I worked my way up the four levels of shift management and loved going away to other pubs as part of the training, with one-week stints at pubs in Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham and Croydon.

“I was a shift manager for seven years, working with pub manager Cindy Purkins at The Forum, until she moved to John the Clerk of Cramlington (Cramlington).”

Following Cindy’s move, Steph applied to take on The Forum as pub manager, with the promotion confirmed in December 2023.

She explained: “It was always in the plan for me to take over at The Forum eventually, but it was not expected so early.

“That Christmas time was an interesting few weeks, to say the least, but I survived.”

Steph, 35, admitted: “I have a really good management team, and we work together well.

“I’m enjoying what I’m doing, hands on in my pub.

“When I joined the company, I didn’t envisage that it would be my career or that I would be a ‘Spoony’ for life, but it’s certainly looking that way.

“Long term, maybe within the next 10 years, I would like to go into auditing, something I have always been interested in… that is, unless I win the lottery.”