“A happy team and a full bar is the best reward” for Lisbellaw native Nathan (Nate) Brown, bar consultant and joint-owner of two Merchant House bars in the city of London.
Merchant House Bow Lane and Merchant House Fleet Street are quickly making a name for themselves as “havens” for gin, rum and whiskey-lovers, with the Bow Lane establishment recently receiving a Best Independent Gin Bar award. 
It was the hard graft of Nate and his business partner Lewis, aided by over-the-phone advice from Nate’s architect father Robert Brown, that led to the two bars getting off the ground in the last two years.
“We have only ever been able to afford a plumber, an electrician and a carpenter, and we had to learn to do everything else alone,” commented Nate, a former Portora student.
His route to self-employment began with a degree in English Literature and a Masters in Creative Writing at Manchester Metropolitan University. 
He had worked as a bar tender throughout his time at university and has formed the opinion that “it’s such a shame that bar tending is treated with such low regard: I see it no different to chef work.” 
Nate soon found that he was “repeatedly being asked to assist in the most difficult stage of establishing bars and restaurants: the opening.”
He then moved to London to team up with Lewis in opening London Bar Consultants in 2011. They also began operating their first gin bar. Since then the consultancy business has “overseen the opening and relaunch of numerous venues and experiences, brought huge and boutique products to the market and trained countless members of staff.” 
Nate reports: “Today our consultancy is international, with clients in India, Russia, America and all across Europe. We specialise in concept and product development, operations and training of staff.”
The young business partners benefitted from the “gin boom” which was “just starting” when they took over ownership of their gin bar. 
“As the most educated gin pushers, our bar became very busy indeed. Before long, we were selling the bar,” said Nate, who boasts that the Merchant House gin and rum collection “is the largest in the world.”
The sale of their gin bar allowed Nate and Lewis to concentrate on Merchant House. The 30-year-old entrepreneur outlines what it was like setting up two bars in one of the busiest cities in the world.
“Setting up a bar or a restaurant can be incredibly laborious and detailed. Sometimes, folks can head into the project underprepared, but regardless of the dreams or the passions, it is fundamentally a numbers game,” Nate said. 
“After we sold our gin bar, setting up Merchant House should have been a bit easier, but serious complications with the new site meant that we had to delay opening by six months.
“This meant laying off all of our staff whom we had trained, losing our following and starting afresh and again underfunded. 
“It was a very difficult time.”
Nate continues: “But we stuck to the plan and grew the business on great hospitality and after 18 months we could set up our second venue.”
Their lack of funds meant that Nate and Lewis “had no choice but to instigate incredibly quick turnarounds when opening both sites.” This meant doing the vast majority of work themselves, from gutting, to plastering to painting.
“Lucky, as my Dad is an architect, he was always on hand to answer the million questions we threw at him every day,” Nate says. 
“If he couldn’t have answered questions like: ‘How do I plaster a wall?’, or ‘How do I know if this is a supporting wall?’ over the phone, we wouldn’t have made it where we are today.”
Asked how Merchant House differs from its competitors, Nate replies: “One of the problems I see in the bar industry as a whole is poor treatment of the staff. Once this is renegotiated, and the staff are treated as professionals, we see their approach change and they begin to take interest and get excited about the wonderful produce they can work with. 
“This in turn changes how they treat their guests (and they are guests, not customers). In a nutshell, we work in hospitality, not service. Don’t even get me started on service charge – that will never happen at my venues.”
Nate finds that “sometimes business in London can feel impossible: the rents and rates are astronomical, the taxes are a daily struggle,” therefore he admires “anyone who can make a success of things.”
Outlining the pros and cons of running your own business, Nate replies: “I admit that sometimes I get jealous of the security and hours that those who work for someone else enjoys. I’ve become accustomed to 75 hour weeks. The hardest part is when times are tricky and I have to drop everything for the business. For a few years there I was never present at family birthdays, friend’s weddings etc because I couldn’t escape. 
He concludes: “Having a business takes over everything. But on the other side of the coin, the satisfaction and pride I feel when things go well is second to none.”