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THIS LIFE: Message in a bottle
IT'S been an eventful 12 months for Chris Hill, 35. He's launched Latitude, a quality wine and spirits outlet in Leeds city centre, and is expecting his first child with wife, Suzie Hill. The couple have lived in Kirkstall for the past nine years.
IT'S been an eventful 12 months for Chris Hill, 35. He's launched Latitude, a quality wine and spirits outlet in Leeds city centre, and is expecting his first child with wife, Suzie Hill. The couple have lived in Kirkstall for the past nine years.
The best thing about Leeds is the bar and club scene here. There's a real community going on there which I was always a part of. I've worked everywhere, mostly as manager at places like Arts Cafe, Trios in Headingley, Angel's Share in Chapel Allerton and Harvey Nichols, but most people around the scene still know me as that tall bloke from Arts Cafe. I'm about 6ft 4ins. I came from a place called High Wycombe between London and Oxford and I came to Leeds to study at the university. Thing is, I didn't pick where I wanted to go on the basis of courses I did it on the basis of what the city was like to go out in. Back in 1991/92 there was a real buzz about Leeds because of clubs like Vague and Back 2 Basics – that makes me sound like a right dodgy old raver. Unfortunately I gave up on the bar game some time ago partly because I'm married and have a kid on the way. There's no set finishing time in the bar industry and I can't be rolling home at three and four in the morning forever.
My childhood was awesome. My parents were great and I have two brothers - one older, one younger – I always have memories of camping trips to France. When we were young they seemed amazing. We'd sometimes go just north of Bordeaux and I still have hazy memories of being dragged around distillery trips in cellars and something, I reckon hooked in my brain at that point. There's something about standing in a cellar surrounded by old booze.
The best piece of advice I've ever received has probably come from incredibly good bosses in all the places I've worked – people like Richard Allen at Harvey Nichols and Ged Feltham at Angel's Share. Those people who are really ambitious and get to senior positions have a certain single mindedness.
I've done a philosophy degree so I think about life a lot. My philosophy on life is that the most interesting stuff is creative stuff and if you go out and find something that gives you a buzz then you should stick to that. I could sell gallons of wine if it was cheap, but i don't think I would find that interesting if the wine wasn't good. If I find a wine that's really good, even if its a bit more expensive, then I'll gain respect and gain more pleasure out of it. If there's one thing I'd like to encourage people to do is spend just a few pounds more on wine, even the difference between a 4 bottle and an 8 bottle can be substantial but quality isn't necessarily about huge expense. In my shop you won't find much above the 40 mark, and some is as little as 5. Wine is almost like the history of the world. They've found wine vessels in georgia dating back to 6,000 BC – it almost pre-dates history. Wine is the creative process of mankind.
I'm most proud of the shop, though hopefully I'll say something different when my kid comes along. I'm really proud of what I did at Harvey Nichols and Angel's Share too, but this is my own. I was really nervous when I went solo. I was worried that I might go into a creative black hole but its even better this way because the shop is kind of an extension of me and a reflection of my personality. That sounds really pompous doesn't it?
There's a part of me that really wants to meet Robert M. Pirsig who wrote Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. It harks back to my philosophy on life in saying there's a quality in the creative world and the scientific world – but creativity is that burst that makes you go 'Wow!'. Somehow I think I'd probably be deeply disappointed if I actually did meet him though.
My first job was working for the Blue Flag restaurant in my home town. It was a pub and the guy who'd taken it over was a madman, but inspirational too. It was horrible. It was a French restaurant so all silver service. I hacked it for six months, though after two weeks I had massive blisters on my thumbs because they super-heated the plates. But it gave me the buzz to work in the hospitality industry.
I couldn't live without music, wine and my wife – that's in no particular order.
I don't often cry but I often get moved close to tears – every now and then there are times you get really emotive by a really good wine. Sometimes you try something and its just like: " That's unbelievable!"
My first crush was a girl called Vanessa Milner and I was about eight and she blew me out. I threw a proper strop – actually, maybe that was the last time I cried!
I relax by listening to music mainly, but often I'm quite happy just biking out into the Yorkshire Moors and it really helps to take my mind away from other things. And, of course, I relax over a glass of wine.
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Weather for Leeds
Sunday 12 February 2012
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