Co-founder of Only A Pavement Away, Greg Mangham CBII celebrates 50 years’ continuous service to hospitality in September 2023.
Aged 15, Greg’s first job was as a ‘pot boy’ at the Spotted Dog in London’s Forest Gate, which set him on a career journey that has seen him working as a chef, in management development roles and as an Operations Director. He has worked for the Hilton Park Lane, Coral, Bass Taverns and Charrington, and the Tote, before setting up his own consultancy business. A long-time friend of the BII, Greg is a Trustee and a former Chair of the London Region. He is a passionate supporter of the trade and today he is best known for his role in setting up and running the charity, Only A Pavement Away, with wife Gill.
Only A Pavement Away’s mission is to help vulnerable people find work in hospitality – from prison leavers, ex-forces personnel and others who may otherwise find themselves facing homelessness. It all began, explains Greg, as he and Gill were out for an evening, walking along The Strand. “We’d had a bit too much red wine after a night out when we noticed all the rough sleepers – some were the same age as our nephews and nieces. The next day I made a call to Crisis to find out more – and then it struck us, that with 80,000 vacancies in hospitality and all these people out there needing jobs, we needed to do something to bring the two together.”
Crisis’ Employment Services Manager, Dulal Ahmed, Publove’s Founder Ben Stackhouse and UK Hospitality’s Strategic Affairs Director Tony Sophoclides became the first Trustees, and Greg admits to only planning to be involved for the first month. But instead, he walked away from the lucrative contract he had just won, gave up his consultancy and a salary, to work with Gill (pictured, left, with Greg), on the charity full-time. “Gill is a retired teacher and I am on a Bass final salary pension, so we don’t need to take a salary out of the charity,” Greg says. “I do it because I love every minute of it – they’ll have to carry me out.”
Only A Pavement Away has got 400 people into work, of which almost 300 are still working in the trade today. Those ‘lost’ were during Covid; the average length of service is about 36 weeks; and 60% of people stay longer than a year with their employer. “Getting those 400 people into work has, in real terms, added £11.2 million to the economy. They’re not having to claim so many benefits, they are living independently and are earning a living that allows them to go shopping, buy clothes, pay rent and so on – which all contributes to the economy.”
Now, Greg is firmly focused on his target to get 5,000 people into jobs by the end of 2027, working with his 115-120 employer partners and 128 charity partners. While Greg is a Trustee of the BII, the BII’s CEO Steve Alton CBII is a Trustee of Only A Pavement Away. Greg says: “It has been great working with Steve and seeing all the inroads he has made with politicians, as he relentlessly works to give the pub sector a voice. You can see Steve really cares about the industry – and when not working, he spends his weekends and evenings visiting pubs. As a Trustee with the BII, we are responsible for the BII’s governance, making sure it’s compliant – it’s Steve and his amazing team that are running it and they’re doing a blinding job, with Mark Robson CBII as Chair.”
As well as Greg’s plans to get 5,000 people into work, Only A Pavement Away has set up a training academy and Greg is now looking to launch a café. Charity Ambassador and top chef Tom Aikens has already devised the menu for it, says Greg, explaining: “It will be a social space and somewhere we can have more training rooms above.” It will also serve to raise the profile of the charity further. Training is key to the work the charity does as, Greg explains, support and care are essential in making sure people are ready for work – and it takes time. “It’s easy to lose sight of the long-term aims and just focus on getting them into work. But what’s really important is getting people into work and keeping them in work. It’s about the quality, not quantity, of the people too. Our success is in knowing that we have got people in work for two, three and four years because we helped get them onto solid ground.”
