THE TEAM | Och2018

Old China Hand

a proper pub.......

Fiercely independent, buying only from the same.

Family owned freehold, one of the very few in London.

No brewery, no investors, just the Smiths.

Since 11 March 2005.

8 Tysoe Street

Clerkenwell

London EC1R 4RQ

0207 2787678

GOOD NEWS

It takes more than a virus to close down the Old China Hand.

BAD NEWS

However, we have decided that it is not viable to open quite yet.

We shall assess the situation on a monthly basis.

We apologise to our wonderful customers, many of whom have been in touch.

I miss you all more than you miss my beer

and in the immortal words of Vera Lynn:

'We'll meet again, don't know where, don't know when,

but I know we'll meet again some sunny day.'

Except we know 'where', we just don't know 'when'.

No food, just drinks and snacks, and only from small independents in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

No loud music, no cocktails, just beer, wine, spirits and soft drinks.

And ping pong and darts.

Pub Dec 2018 Jan 20 19 367.jpg

Created by one of the Smiths

THE FIRST TEAM

Joe

Joe is our first Welsh member of staff, born and bred in Cardiff. Like every Welshman he is immensely proud of being Welsh so is great at selling our Welsh products.

Joe has a lovely smile but he doesn't use it enough because he is quite shy. An ardent supporter of rugby (of course), he is also a big fan of Formula One. He loves pubs with no music or low volume music as he believes in going to the pub to talk. He studied Video Photography at uni and likes working nights so that he can dedicate days to his photography and making short videos. In the 15 years I've owned OCH I have never had anyone come for their trial shifts with a notebook in hand!

Tom

You'll know when Tom's working as it's a bit like having a storm inside the pub. Not only does he move quickly Tom thrives on the busy nights and has handled many on his own. He is charming and always smiling.

Victor

I am also trying to convince our first Belgian/German barman, Victor, to entertain us with some live music one night on both the piano and guitar. He endeared himself to me in his interview when Victor told me he was already a customer and I could tell from his enthusiasm that he genuinely loved the pub. He said it was a cross between an English pub and a Belgium bar.

Shaun

When I first entered the 'world of pubs' there were many Irish landlords and landladies in London pubs. Then drinking pubs lost their popularity and pubs became more like restaurants and a lot of the Irish moved on. Soon Shaun, our Irish recruit, will also move on. Not to Ireland but back to Australia where he has made his home. But for now we can all enjoy his Irish friendliness.

THE RETIRED TEAM (2005-2019)

These are all our All Time Greats as I call them and they have all contributed to the growth of OCH.

Dominic would have to be Captain as he was the backbone of the pub for many years during which time I had little to worry about. He was not only a superb member of staff, loyal and hardworking, he was incredibly popular with our customers and when he left for Sandhurst I had many customers ask about him.

Dom still drops in to see us when he's in London.

The rest of the team consists of Yateen, a brilliant cricketer now an engineer in Mumbai; Marco, our Italian painter now a graphic designer here in London; Will, our chemistry major who kept an incredible cellar; Andy, our ex US Marine who made me the most brilliant magnetic bottle opener before returning to the US; Hugo, whose only gift to me was grief though not now that he's back in Norwich, Duncan, our wine connoisseur now back in Scotland; Tolga, our utterly reliable and dependable London born Turk now in the Midlands; Thomas, our soft spoken Irishman now a doctor in Manchester; and Weitika, our Dutch wine connoisseur, now a partner in a restaurant and wine bar in Holborn.