Hi Sam, first of all can you please tell us a little bit about yourself? Yes. I’m Sam, I currently manage Kobenhavn in Halifax which is a craft beer bar. We’ve just branched out into doing food which has brought its own new set of challenges. I previously trained as a graphic designer and studied it at university in Sheffield. For one reason or another, I ended up spending my time working behind a bar and I have become used to the hospitality trade way of life nowadays you could say.
And how long have you been working in the industry? I left university in 2016 I think and I started working at a bar called Dirty Dicks (now known as the Royal Oak) here in Halifax. I worked there for a good couple of years until Simon, the owner of Kobenhavn, got chatting to me and sort of headhunted me to come and work for him at our sister bar the Victorian Craft Bar Café.
Simon is the owner of both bars? Yes. He was previously at the Puzzle Hall Inn in Sowerby Bridge. He was very successful there but felt restricted by the company that owned the pub and when he saw an opportunity to move to Halifax and open the Victorian Craft Beer Café, he jumped at the chance to own his own establishment.
Opening a craft ale bar in Halifax must have been seen as something of a risk at that time? Yes. There were a lot of naysayers who were convinced that Halifax wasn’t the right kind of place for that kind of bar. I think he has clearly proved them wrong and has to some extent paved the way for quite a vibrant craft ale scene in the town. I would argue that it is as good as the one in Huddersfield and maybe Leeds as well.
Do you get people coming from these places to visit you? Yes, we do and quite a lot say they wish the bar was nearer to where they live! We are quite lucky in this respect.
How long have you been managing Kobenhavn? We opened in 2019, just before COVID so, arguably, one of the most difficult times to open a bar I would say. However, when they allowed us to re-open after the pandemic, we benefitted from being one of the few bars to have a relatively large outdoor seating area. This put us on the map really with people seeing they could come and enjoy a few beers in a safe environment in a nice covered outdoor space.
Would you like to explain a little bit more about the location of Kobenhavn? Yes. It’s under a covered arcade called the Westgate Arcade, literally a one-minute walk from the Piece Hall which is one of, if not the biggest attraction in the town centre. It has brought us a lot of trade in recent times due to the events and gigs they put on. So, as you can tell, we are quite lucky location wise.
Would you say the impact of the Piece Hall gigs has brought about a large upturn in business for you? Yes. It’s only getting better and, as you mentioned before we started recording, the list of artists appearing there is just growing and growing and as the years go by, the quicker they get the stage the more shows they will probably hold. It has been a major success for the town as a whole.
Focusing a little bit more on Kobenhavn as it is at the moment, is it quite a relaxed environment? Yes certainly. It’s a very modern take on a bar but, we still offer cask beers as well as having twenty-four keg taps with lagers, IPAs, ciders, you name it, we try to do a bit of everything. Even teas and coffees as you know yourself!
Just to clarify for people who might not be so familiar with beers and types of beers, would you describe Kobenhavn as a craft ale bar? Definitely. We walk the line between something for everyone and more niche craft beers. But even so, we still have the option of a pint of everyday lager for those customers who are happy with that.
What is your favourite thing about working here? I guess just the amount of people you get to meet really. No two days are the same. There are always new issues to face or problems to solve. Sometimes things that relate to the everyday running of the bar or for example, forward planning for financial constraints experienced by customers due to the cost-of-living crisis. There are plenty of people out there who don’t have lots of money so, you can’t just create a nice place and then push the prices up. We want to make it a nice place to come and at the same time make sure people feel like they are getting a decent deal when they are spending their hard-earned cash.
Do you think the prices are reasonable for the product that you offer? I certainly think if you went and made a list around Halifax in terms of the higher end bars and then if you cast your net a bit further to cities like Leeds, Manchester or even London, you’d be spending half again for a pint on top of what you will pay here. So, I think we are pretty well placed and priced for where we are in the UK.
In terms of the staff you have, what kind of blend of experience do you have? Again, we are quite lucky here. There’s a couple of more experienced heads, the likes of Chris and Jim whereas we also have people who do more casual shifts who are as young as eighteen. We have a good mix of male and female staff too. I’ve worked in places previously where the staff were exclusively male however, currently, we might even be slightly outnumbered by the ladies at the moment.
What are staff turnover levels like? They are low. We have a consistent approach across both bars really in terms of management and general bar staff.
Going back to the ladies, do you have a reasonable proportion of lady drinkers who drink craft ale? Yes, and it’s dangerous to compartmentalise people and say for example “here’s a wine list to look at” because they might want a nice pint of stout perhaps and you don’t want to come across as patronising. But that works both ways and you might get a bloke who wants a nice glass of wine or a nice G&T like yourself!
If there was one thing you could change about Kobenhavn, what would that be! Particularly looking at the price point, our demographic probably lends itself to the more mature members of the population shall we say! We have tried to combat that by starting to put the food on. One of our key menu items is burger and chips.
Would you like to tell us a little bit more about the menu? It sounds like fast food but in reality, we’re trying to aim it at the top end of the market. Something that doesn’t turn us into a restaurant and can be enjoyed with a beer or three. It’s more about appealing to a slightly younger crowd. Since we have started doing food, we have noticed younger families coming in. The kids seem happy with a glass of pop and a portion of chips whilst mum and dad might have burger and fries and a beer or two.
So, it has been a success so far? So far yes. We only launched it at the start of October. It was our intention to launch it in the summer but a few teething problems meant we were delayed until what can be a difficult time of year for something new. Because of the large footfall in the summer period, there was quite a lot of scope for things to go wrong.
Do you ever put on any special events? Yes. Our flagship festival is called “Pucker Up”. It features sour beers. They can be anything from fruited sours, there’s an Irn Bru one for example, through to niche Belgian beers that are fermented with various yeast strains. So again, trying to walk that line between trends and classic style.
You’re trying to find a balance then? Yes. You don’t want to alienate customers by trying to be too niche. You want it to be interesting and authentic for those people who are genuinely interested in craft beer.
Just changing the subject, when you get some spare time, what do you like to do with it? Well, as you know, I’m a big Halifax Town fan. I’m a season ticket holder and have been since I was at school so, that must be sixteen years of more. I spend a lot of time screaming and shouting down at The Shay.
Does it give you a lot of satisfaction, even when they lose? Yes. I guess I’m bound by the fact I usually have to come straight to work after the game. Certainly, in my younger days I used to travel home and away. When I was still at uni, in Sheffield, I’d do little away days by myself. I’d get the train to various places around the country. Grimsby away was one of my favourites. We won 1-0 with a screamer of a goal from Lois Maynard. I think it helped us to cement our place in the play-offs that season and we took around 900 fans there that night. I remember putting a message on the Town message board asking if anyone could give me a lift as the train times were going to be difficult for me. I even tweeted our centre-forward Lee Gregory, as I knew he was based in Sheffield to see if he could help. Anyway, a guy called Lawrence, a fellow Town fan who lived in Sheffield – I think he was an English teacher, gave me a lift. Looking back at it now, that was a pretty strange and potentially dangerous thing to do getting a lift from a complete stranger! At the time I think I was gripped by football fever. It was our first season back in the National League and we were riding the crest of a wave with Neil Aspin as manager and we were starting to believe we could make it back into the Football League.
Was that the season we lost to Cambridge in the play-offs? Yes. We beat them at home in the first leg of the semi-final but got comfortably beaten in the second leg down there.
Right Sam, just to wrap things up, do you think that craft ale bars like Kobenhavn have a long-term future in the UK? I think craft ale as a concept is becoming better understood by the public. More to the point, I think the drinking culture has changed from going out and trying to find deals like four pints for a tenner and drinking in what might be described as a spit and sawdust type of pub to somewhere you can spend time with your family having a few nice drinks in a nice environment and feeling that you’re getting good value for your hard-earned cash.
And on a personal note, do you have any specific aspirations for the future, either work related or otherwise? I guess it’s always in the back of my mind to have a place of my own potentially but, I certainly don’t see that happening in the foreseeable future. I’m part of a successful business already and it’s not as if I’m itching to get away or anything like that because, they look after me well here.
Do you have a website that people can go to? Yes, it is https://kobenhavn.beer/ – we’re in the process of updating it at the moment as some of the stuff on there is probably a little bit out of date now.
Is there anything else you would like to add or you think we’ve missed? No. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect but, I think we’ve covered most things.
Ok Sam. Thank you for your time today. We really appreciate it! Thanks Graham