#028: "Ignorance, bullshitters and thieves": Urban Guild's Mark Cribb - a podcast by Alex Chisnall

"We get to November, we lose £24k in 30 days and I'm like "holy shit". I've been flying by the seat of my pants, investing more money than we've got. I've been blagging the bank to give me more money, and now we're losing nearly £1k per day going into the winter. And I've got a big team of chefs, two venues to run and genuinely shitting myself at this point. Maybe the bank were right, maybe I shouldn't have blagged and pushed this. It's lucky I didn't get into drugs..because I got into business and I got addicted to it.

Mark set up Urban Beach after being inspired by his travels down under – wishing to re-create a relaxed, surfers paradise back in the UK.  

Since opening Urban Beach, a hotel, bar and bistro, in 2006, Mark Cribb has launched the Urban Guild which unites his restaurant, boutique hotel, cafe, bar, craft beer and a farm in the new forest, together under one heading. 

On today's show Mark tells us how he took an ailing B&B in a salubrious area of town from £50k in year one to £1.1 million in year three, going on to launch Urban Reef, Urban Farm, Jenkins & Sons and The Wood Oven. But it's not all been plain sailing...

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