Neil retires after many royally good years!

The man who provided a warm welcome to Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II when she visited Welshpool has called it a day following a long and distinguished hospitality career.

Neil Benbow was General Manager of The Royal Oak Hotel when he welcomed the the Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh in for lunch.

Those special memories of that momentous day back in 2010 have come flooding back because he has just retired after many years’ association with the popular venue.

“Her Majesty and the Duke arrived by train and after a brief tour of the town came in for lunch so after welcoming her, I showed the royal couple up to the best room in the house prior to their descending to preside over a luncheon for 30 VIP guests,” he recalled.

Born in Shrewsbury, he took a three-year course in hotel management before steadily rising through the ranks, initially with Devere Hotels, to become a GM at a number of locations around the country.

Neil then took over as GM at The Royal Oak in 2001and ran the hotel for 10 years, during which time he and his wife Heidi and their two children moved into their present home only a couple of minutes’ walk away.

While Heidi has been a front of house supervisor at the hotel since 2002, Neil continued to fulfil management roles in other hotels around the area, before finally returning to the hotel a year ago to work shifts as a team member.

“Meeting Her Majesty was indeed a special moment but I have simply loved my long association with The Royal Oak welcoming guests from all over the world and enjoying a great camaraderie with the whole team including several long-serving colleagues who were there back when I was the GM,” he said.

Adam Charity, Managing Director of The Coaching Inn Group, which owns the Royal Oak and 42 other hotels and inns in market towns across the country, said Neil had made an outstanding contribution to the group over many years and he wished him all the very best in his retirement.

TOP PICTURE (from left): Chris Ridgeway, Head Housekeeper; Ashley Robinson-Boyce, Acting Head Chef; Zak Salmon, Housekeeper; General Manager, Laura Hindle; Charlotte Smith, Duty Manager; Neil; Sue Ridgeway, Housekeeper; Heidi Benbow, Front of House Supervisor; Dave Fenner, Trainee Assistant Manager; Jakub Sulewski, Sous Chef.