Chris Cunliffe

Experience

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  First Leisure

  Jan 1997 - Jan 2001

  Sales Manager/Senior Assistant Manager

  I joined First Leisure as Assistant Sales Manager at their 'Utopia' venue in Blackburn, a 2,300 capacity two room venue. My duties included servicing network points in the area with posters and flyers for our events and nights as well as running a promotional team on the nights we traded. I was promoted to Sales Manager in 1999 and helped to open 'KUDOS' in Wigan, a 2,000 capacity venue. I was in charge of all marketing and promotions for the venue as well as gaining private lets from local businesses and promoters where possible. This role led to another promotion in 2000 when I was made Senior Assistant Manager, adding operational duties to my sales duties and becoming more involved with the day to day running of the venue. This gave me my introduction to the financial side of running a business and led to my later success within the industry. Show less

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  Greater Manchester Police - Police Constable

  Jan 2001 - Jan 2007

  Tactical Firearms Officer

  Joining in 2001 I was stationed in Didsbury, South Manchester and took up a role as a patrol officer, dealing with the public's reports of crimes and investigating them as necessary. I undertook this role for 3 years before taking part in and successfully completing the rigorous selection procedure to join the Tactical Firearms Unit. This is an armed unit dealing with offenders deemed to dangerous for patrol officers to deal with. I was involved in both spontaneous and pre-planned firearms operations, leading to the arrest and prosecution of many dangerous suspects. Show less

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  Live Leisure

  Mar 2007 - Nov 2009

  General Manager

  As General Manager of this complex I was in overall control of a bar, club, restaurant as well as a weekly comedy venue. During my time there we turned over in excess of £1 million per year with profits of over £250k.I was also instrumental in liaising with Local Authority and Police to rebuild the reputation of the venue after a licence revue prior to my arrival.As well as day to day management I was also in control of weekly and monthly events and was responsible for 'We Love the 90's', the biggest student night in Manchester between 2008 and 2010.I managed a management team of 10 with over 60 employees, training and career progress always being uppermost in my mind, 3 of my management team went on to be very successful G.M's in their own right. Show less

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  Luminar Leisure

  Nov 2009 - Jul 2010

  General Manager

  General Manager of Lava and Ignite in Burnley. I was asked to take over Lava and Ignite in Burnley in preparation for opening the new Oceana Superclub in Manchester. Unfortunately Luminar Leisure encountered financial problems and the project was cancelled shortly after my joining.

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  Ambitious Entertainment

  Jul 2010 - Jun 2014

  Multi Site Manager

  Oversaw 3 venues for Ambitious Entertainment turning over between £20k-£50k each per week, Opus Manchester, Opus Milton Keynes and O Bar Birmingham. Full managerial control of P+L’s as well as day to day operation of the venues along with in house management teams.

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  The Dirty Cow Burger Company

  Jun 2014 - Jan 2017

  Director

  Building Better Burgers is what we do! Landing in February 2015 into one of Broad Streets top venues we brought Dirty Burgers to Birmingham's public with a bang! Be it the classic 'Just Plain Dirty' with simple 6oz patty, cheese, lettuce, pickle, tomato, house sauce and Brioche bun, or the rather extravagant 'Dirty Jack', with it's Jack Daniels infused burger and onion rings we strive to build the best burgers in Birmingham day in, day out. April saw us join forces with www.deliveroo.co.uk a new delivery service which mean we can get our brand of dirty burger out to people within a 2.5 mile radius on specially developed delivery bikes, which has taken off really quickly and led to us looking for a second venue to open as soon as we can. Show less

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  Stonegate Pubs

  Jan 2017 - Dec 2017

  General Manager Ark Deansgate Locks

  General Manager of Stonegate Pubs venue, Ark, on Deansgate Locks Manchester. A 1200 capacity three room venue with a massive student following our challenge is to open new sessions and broaden the appeal of the venue to an older crowd!

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  Stonegate Group

  Dec 2017 - now

  After 9 months in Manchester I was transferred to Chester to take over the running of Rosies, one of Stonegate's 'Iconic' venues. Another great venue with a top team and lots of potential.Now a year on we've managed to turn the venue around into one of the top performing Stonegate venues profit wise and are a proud member of the '100 grand' club for sales over £100k nett for one week. On top of that we managed to be the highest earning venue for the whole of Stonegate for both the Saturday before Halloween and Halloween itself in 2018!2019 was equally, if not more successful, with us beating our site profit targets by over £120k and consistently ranking in the top of the company for turnover and profit. Show less

  • General Manager

    Jan 2017 - now

  • General Manager Rosies Chester

    Dec 2017 - now