Monster area!

Abby Herdman, an area manager, has followed the career path she wanted for herself and marked 20 years’ work with the company this summer.

Abby was promoted to her area manager role in 2017 and is responsible for a dozen pubs across Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire and Nottinghamshire, as well as one in each of Rutland and Stamford near Peterborough (Cambridgeshire).

Abby is pictured, with flowers and Champagne, as well as cake and balloons, celebrating outside The Sir John Arderne (Newark), one of her pubs located across six counties in the heart of England. Also pictured (left to right) joining in the fun are pub manager Mark Froggatt, who runs The Sir John Arderne, together with regional manager Paul Draper and general manager Alistair Broome.

She admitted: “Geographically, my area is a monster and I do spend a lot of time travelling. However, I have a really fab job – and what I love the most about it is the people.”

“I now work with pub managers and kitchen managers, some of whom I took on as an associate, who have worked their way up.

“To watch and see their progression and development has been a real joy.”

“My Wetherspoon career, to date, has afforded me so many opportunities and so much experience.”

Abby Herdman

Abby’s own Wetherspoon career began in August 2001 as an external shift manager at The Tollemache Inn (Grantham), where she stayed for six to eight months.

She moved on to The Moon Under Water (Boston), where she worked for several years, taking over as pub manager in 2010, as well as becoming a mum and raising her son (now 18 years old) and daughter (now 14). Abby said: “I was promoted to area manager in 2017 – something I had been gearing up to for several years and which was always the path I wanted to follow.

“There were elements of the pub manager job which I absolutely loved: the people, the teams and the customers. However, I still have that involvement, which is key to my role, only on a bigger scale, for 14 pubs, instead of just one.”

Abby concluded: “My Wetherspoon career, to date, has afforded me so many opportunities and so much experience.

“It has also offered flexibility around my personal life, meaning that I have been able to raise my family, alongside pursuing a successful career.”