ILMINSTER NEWS: Retiring hotelier looks back on 52 years at the Shrubbery

RETIRING hotelier Stuart Shepherd – who celebrates his 75th birthday today (Saturday, February 13, 2016) – wiped away the tears as he looked back on more than half-a-century at the Shrubbery Hotel in Ilminster.

The long association Mr Shepherd and his wife Liz have had with the Shrubbery Hotel in Station Road has recently come to an end – having first taken up the helm of the establishment in December 1963 and then buying the premises in 1966.

When the couple first arrived at the Shrubbery there was no central heating, no private bathrooms, a leaky roof and guests had to use bedpans and there were gas machines where you had to put a “shilling in the slot.”

“Everything had to be done and because we didn’t have a lot of money, things had to be done gradually,” explained Mr Shepherd. “I was the one who spent the money and Liz was the one who tried to save it.

Mr Shepherd said that during his earlier years he had been taught by A. H. Jones, who worked as general manager of the Grosvenor House Hotel in London from 1936 until his retirement in 1965.

“A. H. Jones was an accountant, but he was visionary and he taught us that a hotelier should be part of the community,” said Mr Shepherd who has gone on to be involved in many different groups within the area including the town council, Rotary Club, the Nyanza Masonic Lodge, Ilminster Cricket Club and the board of governors at Wadham School at Crewkerne.

PHOTO - TOP: Stuart Shepherd.

PHOTO - RIGHT: Stuart Shepherd and his wife Liz.

“I always like talking to the guests to make sure they are ok and happy – rather than me running around serving at tables. Any hotel in the world has to make people feel like they are at home – that is the hotel’s duty,” he said.

Mr Shepherd and his wife were the special guests of honour at a recent dinner of the Rotary Club of Ilminster on Wednesday, January 27, 2016,  where they were joined by Rotarians and guests.

Club president Linda Piggott-Vijeh, who first met Mr Shepherd when she visited the Shrubbery as a hotel inspector 20 years ago and did not exactly get off to the best of starts but have since gone on to become firm friends, said it would be very strange not to have the Shepherds at the hotel.

“This really is the end of an era and we will miss them – although we know that they will still be living locally and continuing to play an active part in the life of the town and the local community,” she said. “I know that my fellow Rotarians would like to thank them for their generous hospitality over the years and that they will be very much missed.”

PHOTO - RIGHT: Rotary Club members and guests at the Shrubbery Hotel for a special dinner to mark the retirement of Stuart and Liz Shepherd.

The 21-bedroom hotel was sold in the summer of 2014, but Mr Shepherd had stayed on at the Shrubbery to help oversee the change in ownership.

Mr Shepherd, who was overcome with emotion at times when talking about his time at the Shrubbery, said: “I would like to say sorry to my wife for having stayed as long as I did at the hotel as she had been wanting me to retire for the past ten years. I should have done it then rather than now. But without Liz I wouldn’t have been able to do any of this and I can’t thank her enough for that and bringing up our two children.

“We have both had a good life from the hotel. We might have wanted to travel a lot more than we have done, but we have been committed to this hotel.

“I would like to thank Henry (the hotel's chef) who has worked for me for 40 years and he has looked after this club during that time and he knows all of its idiosyncrasies.”

When Mr Shepherd was asked what he liked most about hotel life he said “the people” and when asked what he disliked most about hotel life he said….“the people.” It sort of sums up Mr Shepherd!

But he added: “I have always enjoyed it when guests said ‘thank you’ at the end of their stay."

Mr Shepherd said that given the chance to dine and talk with three people – alive or dead – he would have chosen Margaret Thatcher, Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi.

But what does Mr Shepherd plan on doing now in his retirement? He said that he would continue his role as a councillor on the town council and try and go and watch more cricket, while he added he had always wanted to write a book.

The Ilminster Press would like to wish Mr and Mrs Shepherd a long and happy retirement.

PHOTO - ABOVE: Ilminster Rotary Club president Linda Piggott-Vigeh (right) with Stuart and Liz Shepherd at the Shrubbery Hotel.

PHOTO - ABOVE: Stuart Shepherd is "interviewed" by Rotary Club president Linda Piggott-Vijeh in a Piers Morgan-style chat show fashion.

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