Simon Lane, General Manager, Newcastle Racecourse
Aug 23 2010 by Karen Dent, The Journal
Plans for a series of new developments at Newcastle Racecourse - and its on-site golf course - were some of what attracted Simon Lane away from the new home he’d just bought in Worcester to take the reins at Gosforth Park. Karen Dent meets the estate's new general manager.
SIMON Lane's career in the leisure industry, which has taken him from the Midlands to Cornwall and now to the North East, actually happened almost by chance.
Straight out of university, he and a bunch of mates had plans to travel around the world when a ‘too good to turn down’ job opportunity presented itself and both his year out and ultimate aim to join the police force were turned on their heads.
“Funnily enough, I actually sort of stumbled into it,” says the 37-year-old. “I finished my degree – I did a sports science degree at Nottingham University – and had an intention to go travelling.
“I was at the point of almost buying a ticket to go off, when my father saw an advert for a job in a newly-built local authority leisure centre in the Cotswolds, close to where we were living.
“Having spent some time through university working in leisure, as a lifeguard, gym instructor, doing some bar work, I had a basic understanding of the industry and was eventually persuaded by my parents to apply for the job just to see what happened.”
To his surprise, he got the post and went straight into junior management. He says he has “absolutely no regrets” about missing out on travelling and indeed not following his original ambition to become a policeman.
“When I look back now at what I’ve achieved at a fairly young age, and what I’ve done and how happy and successful I’ve been, I definitely think I’ve made the right choice,” he says.
“My friends went off and travelled the world and have their own tales to tell about that but obviously, I’m quite happy with the way that things have turned out.”
The married dad-of-two arrived in Newcastle just over a month ago with a hatful of management experience, including managing the prestigious St Mellion International Resort in Cornwall and a general manager role in family entertainment with Bass Leisure and Retail, which is known as Six Continents Leisure.
“I learned a huge amount working for that business, one of the biggest businesses in the UK. The way that they run their businesses is so advanced compared to anybody else is just frightening,” says Lane.
The chance to head up Newcastle Racecourse, which also includes the Parklands golf course, conference facilities and Border Minstrel pub, came out of the blue. The course is the biggest in the nine-strong Northern Racing Group which is owned by the Reuben Brothers.
“The opportunity just almost landed in my lap to come here,” he says. “The role wasn’t actually advertised. I got it through an agency in London who Northern Racing tend to use for appointments to senior positions so headhunted is probably not the right term but I was approached via an agency.”
He started at Newcastle on the day before Ladies Day – one of the biggest festival racing events in Newcastle’s calendar.
“I was straight into it,” says Lane. “It was a bit of a baptism of fire but was very enjoyable at the same time. It was the biggest day that I think the racecourse has had, certainly in modern times.
“We had a sell-out crowd of 25,000, which is bringing its own challenges; trying to look after 25,000 people is a challenge at the best of times but very enjoyable.”
He is now planning for the final big festival day of the year – the Fighting Fifth, which takes place in November.
“Ladies Day was all planned for me coming in 24 hours before the start of it. So I’m getting some good practice running some of our smaller race days through the next two or three months.
“I’ve done two already and the Fighting Fifth will be the biggest day before the end of this year and I’m looking forward to it.”
Lane, wife Claire and daughters Amelia, six, and four-year-old Caitlin had literally been in their new home in Worcester – not far from where he grew up – for a couple of months when the Newcastle job came along. And unlike predecessor Mark Spincer, he intends to shift his family to the North East as soon as possible.
“The intention is to relocate the family, my wife is very amenable, she’s quite happy to move,” he said.
“We came up here before I took the job and had a look around, and everything you hear about Newcastle and the surrounding area is really good and positive.
“I have to say the people I have met so far have been fantastic and welcoming me and making me feel at home here, so I’m pleased that we’ve made the decision to come up here.
“My wife is really impressed with what she saw, the coastline up here is fantastic and having lived in Cornwall before and enjoyed living by the coast, we thought it gives us an opportunity to move back towards the coast and live somewhere fairly rural.
“I’ve had a look at a map and everywhere you look, looking at houses, there are always golf courses around it, so that bodes well for me. Not sure my wife will be very pleased with me!”
A keen golfer since childhood, Lane has so far managed just one round at Parklands golf course but obviously has his sights on more.
“I play fairly regularly, working in golf gives you an opportunity – or an excuse – to play fairly regularly and that’s when I became sort of quite involved in it,” he said.
“I got slightly better at it as I played more and I now play off a handicap of five, which is reasonable.
“I’ve played a lot in Europe, played in the States, I’ve played in this country a lot, in Scotland and obviously played some of the bigger and nicer golf courses in the UK.
“I’ve been a spectator at the Ryder Cup and have watched some of the world’s best including Tiger Woods, and obviously hosting some of the European tour events at St Mellion, got to meet some of the bigger names in golf which was nice.
“I suppose if I’d ever been good enough, if I could chose a career, it would have been to be a professional golfer. I think it’s quite a nice lifestyle.”
