Adam White | Source

Adam White was born in London but grew up in New Zealand, where his family owned a quaint hotel, therefore planting the hospitality seed early on. In 1994, having graduated in Industrial Design, Adam came to London to continue to work in this field, only to have his childhood surroundings and the burgeoning hospitality industry of the 90s influence a career in the field, where he implemented his design influences into pubs he was involved with.
 
Working initially for Bass PLC (now Mitchells and Butler), Adam took over the management of ‘The Castle’ Public House in Holland Park, and assisted in developing the PLC gastropub model called ‘Aspirational Village’. This was a way to regenerate life in to dated pubs with design and a product model akin to the now fashionable ‘gastropub’ market.  

Invigorating the atmosphere and staff, and providing freshly produced food, The Castle became such a success that Bass renamed the model ‘The Castle Project’, which expanded to over 1700 other establishments across their estate.

With an aversion to the lack of integrity he experienced in many public company operations, Adam’s passion has been to create local establishments that are cherished by their neighbourhood through individuality and warmth of décor and service.

In 1998, the small gastropub company, Jacomb Guinness Ltd. was on the market with their two venues, the Stonemasons Arms in Hammersmith and the Masons Arms in Battersea. Whilst engaging in a potential purchase, the owners offered Adam the job of turning the company around. After successfully doing so the company then expanded instead to another site, subsequently selling to Youngs for £7m.

Feeling comfortable with his experience, Adam then decided to go in to business for himself, taking one of his General Manager’s from Jacomb Guinness as partner (Clive Watson), they opened The Garrison in Bermondsey in 2003. Then Village East in 2006, again in Bermondsey, then Riding House Café, Fitzrovia, in 2011. Many accolades were received for their businesses, but the partners decided on an amicable split, financed by the sale of The Garrison. Adam then went on to open Rail House Café in Victoria in 2017 and Riding House Bloomsbury in 2022.

Adam’s journey to date has been organic, and self-funded with the support of Lloyds.