Just one year on from making a massive career change , selling the family home and buying one of the Island ’ s busiest and best-known pubs The Fighting Cocks , Sam and Donna Shaw have taken another gigantic leap of faith by leasing a second one – the Chequers Inn at Rookley . We asked Sam to explain the thinking behind this bold move .
Food and drink
A strategic move to The Chequers
Just one year on from making a massive career change , selling the family home and buying one of the Island ’ s busiest and best-known pubs The Fighting Cocks , Sam and Donna Shaw have taken another gigantic leap of faith by leasing a second one – the Chequers Inn at Rookley . We asked Sam to explain the thinking behind this bold move .
Most new business owners have quite enough on their plate in the first year or so , and there are few who would even dream of adding a second outlet so quickly .
But Sam and Donna ’ s passion for creating a great family-friendly pub environment , and their early success at The Fighting Cocks , has convinced them that a similar formula and dedicated approach can work at the more country-focused Chequers Inn . Not that they expect it to come easily – but then this is a couple who have shown they aren ’ t afraid of hard work . They are also no strangers to risk , because until a year ago , they had no experience at all in the licensed trade . Sam , 39 , went straight from Medina High School into a traditional mechanic ’ s apprenticeship at Shaw ’ s Garage , his family ’ s well-known motor business in East Street , Ryde .
“ I wasn ’ t very academic , always happier doing rather than learning ” says Sam , who started off sweeping floors and worked his way up to the point where , 13 years ago , he took over the business on his parents ’ retirement . But he admits he had always harboured a desire to go into the hospitality business – and says it got to the point where he wanted to pursue his dream . Luckily , he had the full support of his wife Donna , despite the fact that they were by that time comfortably settled in a family home with their three children , Imogen ,
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