Interview: Jodie Kidd

P&B: Hi Jodie. Thanks for talking with us. Let’s start off with business – how is it?
JK: We’ve had such a lovely spring, and it really makes such a dramatic difference when the sun comes and we can almost double our covers by getting people outside. People are in better moods and they want to socialise more. There have been a lot more events – we’ve been hosting a lot more car shows and things like that. It has to be active through the summer to get you through the tougher months of January, February, March, etc.

We’re doing alright. I’ve had the best general manager, who has now become a business partner, since the first day. That’s Gavin Roy, and I tell you what, without him, things would be a lot different. I feel very lucky and very blessed that I’ve had the right people around me to help navigate the industry. This was my first time in the sector – getting a pub and then going straight into pandemics and things like that. We’re just keeping our head above the water at the moment, but certainly no boats in the Mediterranean yet.

P&B: In a recent interview with Pub & Bar, Tom Kerridge talked about how his other celeb-led endeavours have helped his hospitality business survive. Is this the same with you and The Half Moon?
JK: At the beginning, very much so, but I was stuck in this position, because when I decided to get The Moon, I didn’t want to be another celebrity that just puts a name to a pub or to a restaurant. I actually really wanted to understand the industry, so I spent years learning. I’ve always been a sole trader my whole life and this was the first time I’d really run a team. When I start something, I go fully immersive – I really went into the pub and stopped everything else for a bit. It has been an amazing learning curve for me. I’m very good at being a model and racing cars and things like that, but running a whole team was a real eye opener. I remember when my first chef said that he was leaving and I just burst out crying, saying ‘Why? What have we done?!’ But then you get used to people coming and going, and you get slightly thicker skin. It has been blood, sweat and tears, but I wouldn’t change a thing.

Jodie Kidd alongside landlord and Channel 4’s First Dates barman Merlin Griffiths

P&B: Friend of yours Jeremy Clarkson has welcomed a TV crew in to film his first foray into owning and operating a pub. Given the opportunity, would you have done the same at the beginning of The Half Moon’s journey? 
JK: Everything that Clarkson’s Farm has been doing is fantastic, highlighting how difficult things are for farmers, how difficult things are for suppliers, growers, the industry. I’m incredibly grateful that he’s allowed people to understand a bit more of the complexities of running a pub. I’m so thankful that he’s had the cameras there to really highlight and showcase that. 

P&B: You’re often seen as a commanding voice in the sector. How does that feel to be seen in that way? 
JK: I feel that I can do a little bit because I do have a tiny voice. For example, I went up to London and did a petition and got over 100,000 signatures to try and get beer tax lower. I’ve always tried to be that voice whenever I can, whether that’s going on James Martin’s show or whatever else. I’m sure I’m not doing anything in the slightest, but if anything changes down the road then I’m delighted to be a voice that’s helped with that. This incredible, beautiful industry that we’re all involved in is really suffering, and it should be supported more.

You’ve got to keep on fighting. We haven’t even got a minister for hospitality – there is no voice in Westminster for anybody, and I think that’s quite a shocking thing. So many lovely, beautiful little pubs are being turned into houses, and these hearts of these communities are disappearing – they won’t come back. I will constantly beat my drum and stamp my feet. I don’t know if anyone’s ever going to listen, but if there’s anything that I can do to help, I’m always first to put my hand up. 

The Half Moon at Kirdford's garden

P&B: You saved The Half Moon from that very fate, as there were plans to turn it into homes. Would you take a second site for the same reason? 
JK: One of my best friends has just bought a pub called The Castle, and Gav and I are kind of coming on board and helping a bit. We are just coming in as a kind of guide. But if I could, yes, I would love to get more. That’s actually where you can start making something that looks quite interesting – you get a chain and you get rooms. I’m never going to say ‘no’, but I’m sure Gavin would absolutely have a meltdown if I said we were going to go about a chain, but I’ve got ideas. I’ve had ideas since the very beginning that I’d love to make happen, involving more pubs and cars and rooms and lots of fun things. We just need a little bit of stability and hopefully a little bit of support from the government. 

P&B: And you’re confident in recruiting should you expand? The countryside can be tricky to retain talent within. 
JK: We’ve just lost one of our guys who has been with us for about two years. We’re really good at bringing younger people in, but trying to keep them in a rural environment has been one of our toughest things, because you want to bring them up through the ranks and for them to learn, but for young people around here, the down hours are not so exciting. 

The pub splits its dining room and pub offer

P&B: Ahead of the summer, you helped launch a vodcast by Heineken SmartDispense alongside landlord and Channel 4’s First Dates barman Merlin Griffiths. What was the thinking behind it and how has it been received? 
JK: We wanted to highlight the industry and the people in it – there are very few other landlords and landladies who I know in a personal relationship that I can just sit and talk to. The podcast has been so fascinating actually, learning about someone that’s running an inner-city pub or one of the best music venue pubs – all of these different walks of life. We are this one big community and one big family and it has been lovely to sit and have a natter and tell stories from the other side of the bar. I’ve got my stories of being a landlady and having to chuck my first person out, so it was lovely speaking to another landlady and asking her how she felt when she had to throw some rowdy people out.

Some points have been really interesting – really good tricks of the trade. Then there have been lovely stories, heartbreaking stories. I’ve felt a lot of appreciation. Even though you’ve got a team, sometimes you feel quite alienated and quite alone, so it was just really nice to know that everyone else is going through the same things, and they’ve done different things to counteract it. 

P&B: Has it made some waves then? 
JK: I hope so, because there are so many different people that have different stories. Actually, I had some of my best friends tell me they have listened. “I had no idea, oh my god, we just heard your brilliant podcast” and I was like, wow. Like Kimberly from the Pussycat Dolls. She came up to me and she said “Jodes, I just heard your episode!” I didn’t expect people like Kimbers to listen, but she said it was fantastic. And, actually, for people who are not so much in the industry to really love it as well, that’s a good thing.

P&B: Finally, Jodie, when not in The Half Moon’s dining room, where is your favourite place for food and drink?
JK: The reason I got the pub was because I fell in love with food, and that was because I did MasterChef. It educated me about food, and that’s why I really wanted The Half Moon’s food to be at a certain rosette level. I love to cook. I really love to cook. So if I’m not eating at the pub, I will be cooking a lot at home. 

I grow my own veg at home and I’m a big advocate of supporting all our local farm shops and things like that. But I do love eating out as well. I think the level of pubs and restaurants has just gone up and up and up, and it’s a real treat to eat out nowadays, because I think people are really taking you on such a journey. It’s a real experience nowadays. 

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