Off to Gloucester

Going down with Glenn (UK Boss) to the Gloucester cellars to meet the new intake, today. I should do it more often but it’s quite a drive. And anyway they seem to get on very well without my help.

After its shaky start, our big new cellars have performed like the GB Women's Cycling Team Sprinters; every time they perform they break their record. 

Their expertise has also proved exportable.

As you may know, Laithwaite's has set up in a few other countries. (Just got 146th on The Sunday Times Fast Track International Track 200! Oh yes. Just must not pass out during the Gala Dinner; I caused panic last time.) Our star performer at the moment is the USA.

But there's this big new warehouse which just isn't performing at all well. "In the USA?” you exclaim! "They invented Time and Motion study didn't they? Slick distribution is a US thing, no?" Well, no, not in this case.

So there we are, suffering with customers waiting far too long for their wine. Costs soaring.

What to do? We send them this nice, smiley guy called Mark who started on the shop floor with us, maybe ten years ago, and who was responsible for so much of the Gloucester turnaround.

And amazingly, young Mark does it again! The boy from Gloucester works wonders. Shows the Yanks the way. Turns it around. Gold medal for Mark!

Makes me proud.  

And Andy, his equally nice colleague is just off to help us settle into a new warehouse in Sydney!

Today, it’s Mark who shows me round the vast place. See shot of him contemplating his vast domain … unusually silent; these are always the quietest weeks of the year. Which is why we come for meetings now.   

Showed me the new, specially temperature-controlled section for Customer's Wine storage. Dizzying aisles of wooden cases labelled Château Lafite, Latour, Haut-Brion, Lynch-Bages etc that vanish upwards to the heavens. All at a rigorously controlled temperature. "Power cuts?" I worry. "Back-up generators" says Mark.  There's forty million-quid’s worth of customers’ wine in this special area! About the same as in the whole of the huge main warehouse.

Gulp.

Chats with the new people. Glenn rouses them up the way he does. All our latest successes. Our great plans. I just talk about 43 years ago and why I started it. That's my party piece. Funny how I can remember so much from those days … but the last twenty years … not much at all.  

We normally have a drink with the new folk. But these are warehouse staff. Operating forklifts etc.  So we can't. But some of us were delighted to get tea and doughnuts. Am sure they'll get a real drink later.

We have just got permission to run a proper shop from the Gloucester Cellars. This will be great. They've be practising for some time. And they are very keen to do guided tours with tasting. Just call us. Ask for Maxine. She'll sort it.

Must finish. That was all yesterday. It’s now 6 am and I'm on a bus headed to Stratford for the Olympic Games!!!