Tom Helliwell
Tom Helliwell’s career in the bar/restaurant trade started early whilst still at school, Helliwell waitered on tables at the local village hall and tennis club in Radlett, Hertfordshire. That progressed to working in many bars and restaurants around the Greek islands as well as a stint at the bar at Elstree Film Studios.
On returning to the UK Helliwell worked at Harry Smiths Wine Bar in St Albans. At the age of 24 he took a sabatical and left the trade for six years with a brief stint in sales and marketing for blue chip companies which led him to Australia. It was at this point his passion in the hospitality industry was reignited in Melbourne, a city that is well known for having the best bar scene in the world.
Returning to the UK once more, Helliwell aquired a position managing Geronimo Inns head office and flagship pub The East Hill. Two years later in 2002 he took ownership of the Prince Arthur in Euston, a run-down pub with a challenging clientele. Helliwell turned the Prince Arthur into what is now a successful and award winning pub. This transformation caught the attention of Heineken who were looking for quality, experienced operators to take the reins of well located, poor trading sites and transform them into a profitable business. From this meeting, the ball started rolling with The Woodman and a long lease was assigned in 2007. A five year goal was set in place to transform The Woodman into an award winning pub. In 2011 Helliwell sold the Prince Arthur in order to focus his efforts on the one pub. In 2012 The Woodman won it’s first award for ‘Best Outdoor Area’ from Star Pubs & Bars and in 2013 Helliwell was nominated for Publican of the Year where he was one of twelve shortlisted.
In addition to The Woodman, Helliwell owns the sports glove deodorizer company Fresh Gloves Limited. Fresh Gloves was born out of frustration to keep sports gloves clean and odour free. Helliwell is a keen kickboxer and struggled to keep his boxing gloves from smelling, a challenge (and often comedic) for any sports person using padded gloves that are difficult to wash. Finding nothing in the market to solve the problem, Helliwell set out and designed, patented, marketed and produced his own sports deodorizer product – probably the best selling sports glove deodorizer in the world. On the back of that he is now entering the world of shoe deodorizers. Helliwell says ‘not everyone owns a pair of boxing gloves, but in todays world there aren’t many people without a pair of shoes’.
He lives in Highgate, London with his partner and two children.