Selwyn Times: September 12, 2018

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Wednesday September 12 2018
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SELWYN TIMES
Sooty set to move out of The Swamp
Fire rages, homes at risk
Well-known publican
Stephen “Sooty” Moffett
is moving on from the
Islington Tavern after 26
years. He sat down with
reporter Anan Zaki to
discuss the highs and
lows
IT WAS the night of September
4, 2010, the city was still in
shock from the magnitude 7.1
earthquake which struck that
morning.
Businesses all over the city
were closed, but on Main South
Rd, the queues for the Islington
Tavern, also known as The
Swamp, spilled onto the footpath.
“We never missed a day. There
was just nowhere else [for people]
to go. One in the morning and
we had 100 people outside and
100 people inside and we’re only
allowed 144 people,” recalls Mr
Moffett.
“At one stage we had 11 doormen,
so it takes everything
you make away. We had people
dragging each other through
windows, it was crazy.”
The 54-year-old took over The
Swamp in August 1992, and
moved in above the pub. To this
day he does not know how it
became known as The Swamp.
“No idea and no one has ever
told me. It was always here.
Whether it had something to do
with the freezing works around
here, I don’t know,” Mr Moffett
said.
The pub has remained a popular
watering hole for freezing
workers and rugby league players.
When Mr Moffett took over, it
was his first foray into hospitality.
“My former in-laws were in
the [hospitality] game, and at the
time we thought it was a great
idea.”
Initially it was hard, working
long hours to keep the business
running, but that was just part of
the “tough” industry.
“I really slogged it out back
then,” he said.
One memorable moment that
he will never forget in his 26
years at The Swamp was a breakin
in the late 1990s.
“The most bizarre thing that’s
ever happened is I got robbed by
two people in wetsuits and [they]
emptied our gaming machines.
“The alarms didn’t go off, the
window was taken out and they
came through,” Mr Moffett said.
The break-in was caught on a
CCTV camera, but police were
never able to catch the thieves,
he said.
Mr Moffett started $5 roasts
which packed in customers.
“Twenty-six years ago, there
was just less choice. Hospitality is
really tough on the food game at
the moment.
“To sell a roast to a young
person now would be pretty hard,
whereas back then they would
come looking for it,” Mr Moffett
said.
Behaviour at pubs have also
changed for the better in recent
years, he said.
“Twenty-six years ago you’d
be waiting at the back door for
something to happen. It was the
wild west.
“Whereas now, if something
happened it would make the
newspaper,” Mr Moffett said.
When fights broke out, he
had no time for it and trespass
notices were handed out almost
immediately.
Mr Moffett said he is selling the
business to a “North Island-based
development company.”
He said the owners did not
want to be named.
However, Mr Moffett will still
be at The Swamp until the new
owners fully take over in late
February.
He decided to sell the business
after struggling through a year
of roadworks at Pound Rd from
2016 to 2017.
“It was never really for sale,
they [the new owners] came
trying to buy it and I guess once
you see roadworks around here,
you realise how vulnerable you
are to it affecting your business.
“We had a drastic change in
turnover, revenue fell about 20
per cent. But I’m not going to
say how much we turn over,” Mr
Moffett said.
He does not know what the
new owners plans are for the
property, but he believes the
name The Swamp will be kept.
And what will he miss the most
when he leaves The Swamp?
“The people. The characters
that come here, you get to know
them all over the years,” Mr
Moffett said.As for his own
nickname, “Sooty”, it originated
from The Sooty (TV) Show
TIME’S UP: Stephen
“Sooty” Moffett is
selling the Islington
Tavern, known as The
Swamp after 26 years
of ownership.
which ran from 1955 to 1992.
“When I worked at a
supermarket as a schoolboy
[in the 1970s], I used to pack
sausages, and the boss of the
butchery gave [the name].
“There was two of us [working
under the boss], I was called
Sooty and the other one was
called Sweep,” Mr Moffett said.
And he doesn’t plan to leave
the industry just yet.
“I’ve got another bar,
Schroeder’s in St Albans. At this
stage it’ll be the only one,” he
said. However, Mr Moffett did
not rule out buying a new bar.
He has some advice for anyone
looking into getting into the
hospitality industry.
“It’s [about] the customer,
the customer, the customer,”
Mr Moffett said. “No matter
what you think, it’s about the
customer.”
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