You’d think at 71 Michael Armitage would be enjoying retirement with his feet up somewhere exotic after a life time in the hospitality industry. That couldn’t be further from the truth.
Mike still gets up at 6am, prepares breakfast for his B&B guests, cleans bedrooms then heads to the swimming pool to do 20 lengths before returning at 9am to run The Lion Brewery in Ash, Surrey.
“Why pay cleaners and staff to do what I am very capable of doing” says Mike “if I did that I would have to make £90 a day before I even open my doors for business!”
On top of all that his lovely wife Lyndsey has just made him a new dad.
Everyone who knows Mike says that he looks amazing for his age, “That’s down to being sporty and very enthusiastic about everything I do.” Mike continues. “I’m not a big drinker, have never touched spirits and don’t drink anything during the week.”
On the 28th August Mike celebrates 30 years in The Lion Brewery. “It was very run down when I took it over. The brewery at the time wanted me to change the name of the pub so that we could shake off its bad reputation. But I didn’t do that because I know that it’s the person who changes the pub not its name.”
Mike came from a background of running pubs in London where he used to run cabaret nights. “I love music and I was determined to bring that with me to The Lion Brewery.”
Which he’s done very successfully in the form of the ‘Ash Music festival’ staged every year on the last Saturday of July. This is where local bands can strut their stuff and raise funds for local charities. Last year they raised £4000 for the Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice and the Bowel Cancer Campaign. This year the Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice will once again benefit along with C.R.Y. Over the years Mike has raised in excess of £130,000 for charity.
Understandably Mike has a soap box “The pub has always been the place where people can come to socialise and drink in a controlled, safe environment. But today youngsters are buying cheap booze in the supermarkets and getting leathered in public. The government really has to address this issue and quickly.”