Brexit and Covid leave London’s Savoy hotel shaken, stirred – and short staffed
For those in the business, the role of head bartender at the Savoy’s American bar in London is much more than a job – it’s the chance to join a prestigious club of just a handful of people and to earn a place in history.
In its more than 130-year existence, only 13 people have held the role, inventing cocktails such as the Moonwalk and the Hanky Panky, and serving clientele including Marilyn Monroe, Charlie Chaplin, Ernest Hemingway and Winston Churchill.
But in recent months, turnover in the role – as well as other key positions at the central London hotel’s two main bars – has been at unprecedented levels. A mass exodus of staff has prompted the question: what is going on at the Savoy?
Last week, Chelsie Bailey became the American bar’s latest head bartender, a moment the hotel lauded as “an exciting new period in the bar’s history”. But her appointment came less than a year after her predecessor Shannon Tebay, who became the first woman to hold the role in nearly a century, took up the post. She had been appointed to reopen the institution in the wake of the pandemic after Maxim Schulte left after just two years following its Covid closure in 2020.
Tebay declined to comment on her departure. But when she took on the role she said she was “thrilled to take on the role”, through which she hoped to “give a voice” to other women in the industry.
When Schulte left, he said he was leaving a “dream job” prematurely because he “could not align my vision and goals with the future structure and plans of the Savoy”. Typically, people remain in the prestigious role for several years – or even decades.
Other high profile departures include Declan McGurk, the former director of bars, who left in 2020, and Elon Soddu, who left his role as
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