HSA July 2023

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P U B L I C A N P R O F I L E Never Say Die: The Setbacks and Success of a Pub Family BY DION HAYMAN Allen, Gina and Daniel in the dining room of the Golden Grove Tavern. Half a century of hard work, risk taking and rebounding from setbacks are the enduring hallmarks of the Cassin family’s hotel journey. On <strong>July</strong> 4 this year, Allen and Gina Cassin celebrated 30 years at The Grove, along with their son Daniel, who is the hotel’s general manager. Thirty years is an incredible achievement - but it’s nearly 50 years since Gina set her future family’s course as a teenage girl. YOUNG LOVE At age 14 - yes, 14 years old - Gina started as office girl at the Enfield Hotel, working for Ron Myers. He was an innovative and dynamic kind of leader and Gina picked up a lot of his traits. Allen had just been discharged from the army. He was on a working holiday when he stopped in Adelaide and landed a job at the Enfield Hotel and fell in love with Gina. The year was 1974. The couple were married three years later and spent two years running pubs in WA before returning to Adelaide. That’s when Allen made the fortuitous decision to take a job at the Belair Hotel. Here they met their now longstanding friend – Peter Hurley, his uncle Jock and their partners Jenny and Pat. “Dad said in the early days, Jock was a bit apprehensive about them (Allen and Gina), but by the end they were best friends,” Daniel said. The Cassins’ relationship with the Hurleys further evolved when Gina began working at the Hotel Royal in Torrensville. Before long, it had morphed into a partnership as they joined forces to take over the lease of the Reservoir Hotel at Newton. It was the advent of Sunday trading in the early 80s and no-one was quite sure how warmly it would be received, so they decided not to risk overstaffing and promptly assigned Gina to work as the chef on Sundays. It wasn’t the greatest of decisions as hungry patrons waited - and waited and waited - for their meals. “Thirty years is an incredible achievement - but it’s nearly 50 years since Gina set her future family’s course as a teenage girl.” “They realised pretty quickly that Mum wasn’t going to cut it as a chef,” Daniel laughed. “I didn’t make it, put it that way,” Gina added. 16 | Hotel SA | www.ahasa.asn.au Back to Contents
P U B L I C A N P R O F I L E Allen serving a customer at Belair Hotel bottleshop. A RISK - BUT NO REWARD Undeterred, the Cassins decided to fly solo for the first time. In a bold move, the enterprising couple took on the lease at the Kent Hotel, Port Adelaide, which would later become the Port Anchor. The Cassins’ memories of that gruelling venture are testament to just how family-friendly hotels have become in recent decades. Daniel: “Mum’s told me a couple of times they were scared for their life.” Gina: “My body shakes when I think about it.” Allen: “There were a lot of rough patrons that frequented the hotel, so much so the police wanted to put hidden cameras around the bars and stuff like that. I said, ‘will this be shown in court when you charge these people?’ and they said, ‘yes’ and I said, ‘well that puts our family in a little bit of bother’.” Gina: “One day, I looked out the window and a ladder appeared in front of me and this guy was climbing up the ladder and heading for our room so we pushed the ladder away.” Within 18 months, the Cassins had seen enough. “It wasn’t our lifestyle,” Allen said. “We probably lost money there but it was something that wasn’t us.” So, like the Colts’ abandonment of Baltimore in the dead of night in March, 1984, Allen and Gina set path for their own Indianapolis, without notice. Quite simply, anywhere would do. “The day we left,” Gina said, “we snuck out the door, no goodbye party. Nothing.” That anywhere became the Marion Hotel where they worked and lived upstairs – and where they had baby Daniel, who is now 32. Those modest digs were soon upgraded in the form of the penthouse on the fifth floor of the Arkaba when Allen was appointed manager of the Hurley Group’s latest acquisition. Allen & Peter Hurley at Belair Hotel. A NORTH EAST ADVENTURE Their biggest break and arguably most prudent decision was now within sight. In time, the leaseholds for both the Hackney Hotel and the Golden Grove Tavern became available. “Mum always tells me she didn’t even know where Golden Grove was,” Daniel said. But if Allen didn’t know, he made sure to find out. “We felt it was a growth area,” he said. Back to Contents www.ahasa.asn.au | Hotel SA | 17
Page 1 and 2: THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE AUS
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Page 19 and 20: P U B L I C A N P R O F I L E Winne
Page 21 and 22: Alfresco Spaces have expanded to SA
Page 23 and 24: M E M B E R A D V I C E safety cons
Page 25 and 26: I N D U S T R Y N E W S SA Pub Burg
Page 27 and 28: W O R K P L A C E R E L A T I O N S
Page 29 and 30: M E M B E R A D V I C E “The Esse
Page 31 and 32: R A V O ’ S B U S H T E L E G R A
Page 33 and 34: I N D U S T R Y N E W S Sneak Peek
Page 35 and 36: CORPORATE PARTNERS 2023/24 D I A M

HSA July 2023

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