Tim tells how six months stretched into 25 years    

Pub manager Tim Heathfield (second right) is pictured at his pub, The Muggleton Inn (Maidstone), marking 25 years’ service with Wetherspoon.

Also pictured (left to right) are shift manager Louise Emberson, Wetherspoon’s area manager Anthony Jobe and kitchen manager Ryan Pattison with a celebration cake.

Tim joined the company as a part-time bar associate at The Muggleton Inn, as a second job, quickly progressing to shift manager and a fulltime role within six months.

Maidstone-born Tim recalled: “I took the job as it was a sociable job and was only going to stay six months, to top up my bank account, but I really enjoyed it and got sucked into Spoons.

“I became deputy manager at the pub within two years, before moving to The Society Rooms (Maidstone), again as a deputy manager.”

“I spent 18 years there, four as deputy and 14 as pub manager.”

Tim said: “When the pub-manager role came up, I was the most senior manager, so took it on, but it was the team behind me which made me want to do it.

“The rest, as they say, is history.”

Tim briefly took over in 2019 as pub manager at The Thomas Waghorn (Chatham).

He explained: “I was there only six months when the pub-manager role at The Muggleton Inn came up – a position I always wanted, so I got permission to move again and take it on.

“That was in 2020, just as the pandemic and lockdowns hit.”

Speaking about what has kept him with the company for 25 years, Tim explained: “In the pub industry, you can’t beat Wetherspoon for a good work-life balance.

“I enjoy the life which my work allows me to have.

“Wetherspoon always looks after you – and I have had the chance to spend time with my kids growing up, now aged 10, 11 and 16, which is so important.”