Penrith
Area Manager – Hospitality (Pubs) Location: Cumbria Salary: £60,000 – £70,000 + Car Allowance + Bonus + Benefits SP Executive Search is seeking an experienced Area Manager to join a leading hospitality business (pubs) with a strong national presence. This role suits a commercially astute operator who understands the dynamics of self-employed agreements and thrives on coaching entrepreneurs to maximise performance within their pubs. This is for a locals pub estate, supporting and driving performance across self-employed publican agreements. Key Responsibilities: • Oversee the commercial performance of a patch of community pubs, supporting self-employed publicans to achieve sustainable growth, • Build strong, trusted relationships with licensees, acting as coach, challenger and business partner, • Drive sales, standards and profitability through regular business reviews, action planning and performance tracking, • Support publicans with local marketing, community engagement and wet-led trade development, • Ensure compliance with licensing, H&S and company policy within an agreement-based model, • Analyse P&L performance, identify risks and opportunities, and implement corrective action where required, • Work cross-functionally with property, marketing and regional leadership teams to deliver estate strategy What We’re Looking For: • Proven experience in multi-site management within pubs, ideally across leased, tenanted or self-employed agreement models, • Strong commercial acumen with the ability to interpret P&Ls and coach others on driving profit, • Experience supporting wet-led, community-focused or locals pub estates, • A relationship-led operator who can influence, challenge and build credibility with independent business owners, • Resilient, pragmatic and solutions-focused, comfortable managing both performance and difficult conversations, • Confident communicator with the ability to balance brand standards and entrepreneurial flexibility If you’re a commercially driven Area Manager who enjoys developing independent operators and unlocking potential across a locals estate, we’d love to speak with you. Apply via SP Executive Search. SP Executive Search partners with the Hospitality & Retail sector to appoint mid-senior operational leaders.