OBE for Beannchor’s Bill Wolsey
Pictured receiving his OBE at Buckingham Palace recently is Belfast publican and hotelier, Bill Wolsey (centre) with wife, Petra, sons Luke and Connall and daughter, Linda.
Belfast publican and hotelier, Bill Wolsey has been given an OBE for services to business and the hospitality industry in Northern Ireland.
The award was presented to him by Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace in early February after he was included in the Queen’s 2014 Birthday Honours list.
The Beannchor portfolio now includes more than 50 pubs, hotels and restaurants across Northern Ireland, including The Merchant Hotel, Little Wing Pizzeria, The Dirty Onion, Yard Bird, The National Grande Café and Sixty6.
Bill was joined at the ceremony by his wife, Petra and sons, Conall and Luke, all directors in the Beannchor group.
Speaking after receiving the accolade, Bill said that it was an “honour”, and added: “It was a very proud moment and one which I am delighted to share with my family, all of whom have been integral to the growth, development and success of the business. Together we’re very proud of the role Beannchor has played in regenerating and energising the social fabric of Belfast city centre and indeed, more rural locations across Northern Ireland, as well as creating hundreds of jobs.”
Bill Wolsey was born in Belfast on September 11 1953. As a teenager, he was scouted for Arsenal and spent some time at Highbury. When health problems thwarted his footballing ambitions, his energy needed a new focus. After a brief and, by his own admission, unsuccessful stint as a compositor in the printing industry, Bill turned his attention to the hospitality industry.
He gradually worked his way through the ranks with a number of different companies from Pizza Hut (the first in London) to The Holiday Inn and finally the Queens Moat House chain, where he achieved a senior managerial position. This allowed him the opportunity to put some money aside, in order to achieve what was by this time, his burning ambition – to own his own public house.
Since he opened his first pub in Bangor in the late 1970s right through to today, Bill Wolsey has always been an innovator. The Beannchor Group includes many of Northern Ireland’s best-loved, bars, clubs, restaurants and hotels in its portfolio, including the multi award- winning Merchant Hotel, restaurant chain Little Wing Pizzeria, and more recent additions to the portfolio, including The Dirty Onion, The National Grande Café and Sixty6.
