Paulette still on a hot streak, following 20 years in kitchen

With area manager Rob Churley (right) and general manager Richard Marriner, kitchen team leader Paulette Taylor is pictured receiving her long-service 20-year company award.

Paulette, who works at The Kings Ford (Chingford), started with Wetherspoon in 2002 at The Ice Wharf (Camden), but left briefly before resuming a five-year spell at the busy north London Lloyds No.1 bar.

Paulette said: “I started as a kitchen associate, yet ended up helping to run the kitchen there.

“I had to step down, as I was also helping my sister with her new baby, and it was too much to be kitchen manager as well.”

Paulette went on to work at The White Swan (Islington) and The Coronet (Holloway) (no longer a Wetherspoon pub), before helping to train the new kitchen team at the opening of The Mossy Well (Muswell Hill).

Paulette said: “I was helping to get the new staff acquainted with the equipment and procedures, which was good experience.”

Paulette returned for a brief spell at The Coronet before a house move, in 2016, took her from Wood Green to Chingford.

She recalled: “After a couple of months, I applied for a transfer to The Kings Ford, as the travelling by public transport was getting too much.

“I had always worked in big, busy pubs – yet this one has a smaller kitchen and team, but I enjoy it.”

Paulette concluded: “My motto is always to treat people how you want to be treated. It is similar working in the kitchen – always serve food which you would want to eat.

“We work hard, but it isn’t all about the work – you need to have a laugh and smile along the way.”