Tim Bacon

Managing Director and Co-Founder

Telephone : 01565 622312

People tell me I used to be an actor, I have no memory of it, something I did in Australia, Sons and Daughters being my seminal piece apparently! I have vague memories of being a milk boy for a while, working in Kentucky Fried Chicken and spending a couple of weeks working in a bank.

People still ask me, almost accusingly, whether I trained Tom Cruise for the film Cocktail, if drunk I may well answer in the affirmative, however being sober at the moment of writing this I did not, I was trained by the man who trained the man who trained Tom Cruise, a Lloyd George moment.
"What is true as I recall it is…"

I came over to England from Australia in 1987 looking to travel the world, make my fortune and return home to a heroic welcome from family and friends after a couple of years…. they are still waiting!!
I bartended for a couple of years at Fridays, went through management training and, like so many who have since done it to me, once trained left to do it for myself...

The progression was;
Bar Biz Training / Consultancy Company 1989 – 1993
Started off being fun but consultancy ain't for me, you end up working on things you are not particularly passionate about, doing it for the money not for the love but it served its purpose.

JW Johnson's Bar and Restaurant 1993 – 1996
Bought this place from the receivers with a good mate called Dave in the middle of a recession! Johnson's was a blast, a real institution in its day. Who will ever forget Ladies' Night on a Wednesday. This is where I met my wife Karine. She had just arrived from France and applied for a job to which I said no but asked her out instead, she sensibly said "non" and it took a good month of begging before she took pity and said "yes", we have been together ever since.

Via Vita Café Bar and Restaurant 1996 – 1998
Having sold JW's Dave and I decided to have another spin of the dice but realised that neither of us were a great fan of hard work so invited Jez to join the merry gang, he thankfully said yes, despite warnings, and the duo became a trio. We opened 7 Via Vitas around the country. This is where we uncovered the talents of JB, Sue Crimes, Tony Griffin and Steve Walter, all still with us. I also discovered a thankfully short lived passion for colour, orange and blue, what was I thinking?

Life Café Bar and Restaurant 1998 -2000
A Liverpool institution. A big beast of an operation that made a big impact on the city and is where Paul Moran, Sarah Peet and Lee Lynch joined the party. We had already sold the brand by the time we opened the second unit in Manchester, on the day of my wedding, now there's commitment for you. Great wedding party though.

The Living Room 1999 -2007
When we sold Life Dave said "that's it, I've had enough, goodbye" and went off to the excitement of property development, leaving Jez and I to develop what became a fantastic brand and winner of many an award. We nearly sold it in 2005 but sold our souls instead and brought 19 restaurants from TRG plc who took a 38% stake in the business. We took Living Ventures from being a boutique operator to a 34 unit multi-concept business with a turnover of c£50million per year employing well over a 1500 people. We sold The Living Room in the summer of 2007 for a silly amount of money a year before the crash, great timing, all planned of course!

Prohibition 2002 -2004
A little thing we did on the side for a bit of light relief.

Living Ventures now operates 8 GUSTO Italian restaurants and 6 BLACKHOUSE seafood and steak houses. Suburbia bar, lounge and club opened in November 2009 and Dave (he got bored) and I have just opened the Red Door out in West Kirby, Jez and I will be opening more Red Doors in Manchester and Alderley Edge in 2010.

We do all of this out of Knutsford in Cheshire and have a great time. Jez and I are like an old married couple who have found their routine, he still works harder than I do although I have detected a slight slacking off of late, words need to be had.

In amongst all this Karine and I had 2 kids Maya (6) and Phoenix (3) bought a house out in the country and have a dog, 2 rabbits, 4 fish, a hamster, 12 chickens, 2 ducks and 2 canaries, we are in negotiations about adding either a couple of Lamas or donkeys and despite the promises by other members of the family, it is I who do the mucking out!!