From managers to business owners at The Royal Exchange

January 31, 2025

In the first of an occasional series profiling Brakspear business owners, we talk to Chloe King, Aaron Morris and Amy Peiri at The Royal Exchange in Lindford, Hampshire, as they approach their first anniversary at the pub. 

“It felt like we were jumping in the deep end, but we quickly learned to swim!” says Chloe. In January 2024, when Brakspear bought the pub from New Dawn Pubs, she, Aaron and Amy went overnight from being managers to running their own pub business.

Chloe, Aaron & Amy at The Royal Exchange

All three had been in manager roles at The Royal Exchange for five-plus years. Amy explains: “We weren’t ready to leave the pub, we felt it still had a lot of potential that we wanted to develop.” Although the three had never run a business before, their talent and enthusiasm made them the ideal candidates to become the new business owners, so Brakspear offered them financial support to make it possible.

Moving from managers to business owners “really made us step up,” says Chloe.

“Every decision was down to us. It made for a scary first month, but we had great support from Brakspear, the local community and our amazing kitchen and front of house teams.”

They quickly put their stamp on the pub, as Aaron explains: “We wanted to move away from the previous managed house feel. We changed the menus, for example, still focusing on pub classics, but adding a lighter lunchtime offer to compete with local cafés.”

The pub has become more tuned into its local community, ramping up activities with a weekly sold-out Quiz Night, regular themed Bottomless Brunches and live music. They’ve also formed a strong bond with local Woolmer Forest Lions, regularly raising money for them, which is boosted through the Brakspear’s Giving Back scheme. The Lions gave The Royal Exchange their annual award last year, describing the pub as ‘a beacon of support for the local community.’

The team receiving their award (l-r): Aaron, Chloe, Woolmer Forest Lions President John Lewis and Amy

Watch this space for more news as Amy, Aaron and Chloe continue to build their successful business.

From manager to business owner: top tips

• If you get the chance to become the business owner, go for it! If not, you’ll forever be wondering whether you could have made a success of it.
• Accept all the support that’s on offer: if you’ve been a good manager, the local community will be right behind you, and that help is really valuable.
• Try new things: when it’s your business, you can do – almost! – whatever you want. You have to take some risks to find out what’s going to work in your pub.