A LEADER AND A GENTLEMAN

Harry Murray MBE has some wonderful stories to tell about a life well-lived. His stewardship of Lucknam Park and his 50-year service to the hospitality industry tell us all we need to know.

Harry Murray is standing at the door of a magnificent Palladian villa. From a distance, driving slowly past endless trees and acre upon acre of parkland, you can just make out the immaculate suit, the patrician posture, the air of pride and expectation. A master of all he surveys? You bet.

As your vehicle comes to a halt, the master leans forward to open your door, holding out an impeccably cuffed hand to steady your slide. You could be the Queen of Sheba arriving on a golden chariot, and the effect is thrilling.

‘Did you have a good journey?’ he asks kindly, leading you into the foyer where he gestures towards a low mahogany table and a silver tray holding a cut-glass tumbler and a bottle of ice-cold water. ‘I thought you might be thirsty after your long trip.’ And then Harry Murray leads you through a tour of one of the UK’s finest country house hotels.

Master of the house

Harry Murray is Managing Director of Lucknam Park in Colerne, Wiltshire, a member of Relais & Châteaux. Last November he opened the spectacular Spa at Lucknam Park within the early eighteenth century Walled Garden. The Spa’s various indoor and outdoor pools – a swimming pool, hydrotherapy pool and saltwater plunge pool – vie with treatment rooms and thermal cabins for best of breed.

In the adjacent Brasserie, you meet Michelin-starred chef Hywel Jones standing in front of his wood-fired oven and vast open kitchen. His sous chef and mentee, Hrishikesh Desai, has just won the coveted Roux Scholarship. You ask Jones about his own trajectory and he answers you with all the politeness of a prefect. Despite the numerous awards, including Michelin, AA 5 Red stars and Visit Britain Gold Award, from master of the house to master of the kitchens, not an ounce of pomposity pervades Lucknam Park.

‘You can’t have two faces’

For Harry Murray, it’s as it should be.

‘I’ll tell you a little story about my father,’ he confides, as you relax in the small gazebo in one of Lucknam Park’s several formal gardens.

‘He served his country for twelve years as a submariner in the Royal Navy, and had no formal qualifications when he left the navy. He used to be so de-motivated by the way some of the managers spoke to him at work. And it taught me a lesson. You respect everyone. When I do inductions I always say that the man washing the dishes is a valued member of the team because if those plates aren’t clean, what’s the point of how nice a dish is? I tell my staff, you give the postman the same welcome when he comes in the morning as you give a guest. There’s no difference. You can’t have two faces. ‘

As the eldest of three sons growing up in war-torn Britain, Murray liked telling his siblings what to do to help their mother in the house. ’When they asked me what I was doing, I’d say I’m managing you!’ he laughs. His mother focussed on values, the need to respect family, friends and work colleagues; his father taught discipline. ‘I know I’m very self-disciplined,’ he says, ‘I run about four miles every morning followed by a cold shower.’ His trim figure confirms the daily routine.

A modest yet happy upbringing engendered his success. Today Murray is considered something of an industry legend, with his Hotelier of the Year Catey, his Lifetime Achievement Award, and his cherished gong (Member of the British Empire) from Her Majesty the Queen. But he also takes obvious pride in the success of his younger brothers: one is a Professor of Mathematics at illustrious Stanford University, the other a very successful businessman.

What a business

‘From the age of thirteen, the only job I ever wanted was to manage a luxury 5-star hotel,’ he admits. That’s when he stood outside the Midland Hotel in central Manchester, then a part of British Transport.

‘I used to think it was incredible that people stayed there. I was also a very keen Manchester United supporter, and when a visiting European team came to play, they had a banquet at the hotel. All these famous people came and went, and I used to think, what a business!’ So he went to Salford University and did a two-year catering course, after which he found a job at the very same Midland Hotel as a trainee manager, starting in the kitchens as an apprentice chef. This was in 1957.

Murray credits British Transport Hotels with providing him with the best possible training. Located next to train stations, hotels like the Midland were ‘the places to be’. The company has also spawned fellow industry stalwarts Ron Jones OBE of Claridge’s and David Levin of The Capital Group.

His first appointment as a Resident Manager was at the Grand Hotel, also in Manchester. At 27, he was named General Manager of the North Stafford Hotel in Stoke on Trent. This in turn led to The Majestic in Harrogate, part of the Forte family. Forte looms large in Murray’s professional history: the company sent him to South Africa. At the age of 32, he was managing the 5-star President Hotel in Johannesburg.

‘We had 450 staff,’ he recalls. ‘My brief to them was that I’d come to raise the performance of the hotel and I could only do it with everyone working as a team. They would show respect for each other morning, noon and night. It was the height of apartheid, and whatever the politics, there would be no apartheid in my hotel.’

At 34, Murray was asked to open a new luxury hotel for Sol Kerzner, then a rising star. ‘I say to anyone who has the opportunity of opening a hotel that it’s a dream come true,’ Murray says, ‘Because it’s you and your team. In South Africa you had to wait twelve months to get your 5-star rating. Probably one of the biggest thrills of my life was receiving the telegram that said, “At the board meeting today you were awarded five stars”.’ It was to be Kerzner’s very first 5-star hotel.

By the time Murray left South Africa -- brought back to Britain by Forte and his mentor, Dennis Hearn, then the CEO of Forte -- he’d been made a Zulu chief.

A much-loved hotel

The imposing Imperial Hotel in Torquay on the south coast of England, where Murray was General Manager from 1976 to 1994, turned out to be the backbone of his career. It was during this lengthy period that he was inducted as a Master Innholder, appointed Chairman of the Master Innholders in 1985, and awarded the Hotelier of the Year 1986. What he did for the grand provincial hotel back then remains to this day a template for standards and innovation.

‘I did everything to keep the hotel going, including gastronomic, art and antique, gardening, musical and murder mystery weekends,’ he explains. ‘After the arrival of the jumbo jet, it became difficult for resort hotels in the UK. People were going to Spain for the same price they could stay in a hotel in this country. So you have to think of everything but it has to be executed with passion and enthusiasm to succeed.’

Running the hotel was also good for the family. ‘We were able to educate our three children in the local grammar school, where they each became head boy and went on to university,’ he says. ‘I may have had a different calling card had I accepted more opportunities to travel, but getting the balance right was important for me and my family. It was my choice.’

Murray also pays tribute to his wife Susan, who he says almost single-handedly brought up their three children due to his own dedication to the hotels he managed. She’s also hosted receptions, advised on interior design and provided great support throughout his career.

The Queen and Mandela

When Nelson Mandela became President of South Africa in 1994 Murray was asked to return, this time to run the InterContinental Cape Sun in Capetown.

‘I used to see the new president of South Africa almost on a weekly basis and I could actually say to him, I’ve got some guests sitting in the lounge would you please come and say hello to them? Mandela was an incredible man, always very polite and kind.’

Murray recalls how, in March 1995, he received a call from Mandela’s secretary asking if she could provisionally book the ballroom for the following Tuesday. The next day, she confirmed a banquet for 500 people.

‘I said is it anything special? She said, President Mandela is hosting the Queen of England! At one week’s notice,’ he shakes his head, still incredulous. ‘So I involved every single member of the staff. The maids who cleaned the rooms did all the napkin bows, others did the place cards and the flowers. A maid gave the Queen the bouquet. Everyone had a role because this was once in a lifetime, and I didn’t want us to be sorry afterwards and say we didn’t do this or that.’

Looking after people

When Murray won his Lifetime Achievement Catey in 2008 – a plaudit he shares with the likes of the late Lord Forte, the Roux brothers and Raymond Blanc -- he was lauded for his ‘immense contribution to the hospitality industry’. Lucknam Park is only the latest beneficiary. Since he took over in 1997, he’s been responsible for a £20 million refurbishment which, apart from the aforementioned Spa, also includes a stunning equestrian centre.

Modern world-class surroundings and accolades apart, Murray remains a true gentleman at heart.

‘I’ve employed people with a degree in hotel management and administration, and they’ve been totally unsuited to the hospitality business because of their attitude to staff and guests,’ he winces.

The point is to offer scope for recognition and reward. Murray has instigated a scheme at Lucknam Park whereby all staff are awarded so many free nights per year depending on their length of service. Sunday to Thursday, subject to availability, they also enjoy a 50% discount in the restaurant, with access to all of the facilities. It’s Murray’s way of saying thank you for the valuable contribution they make to the success of the hotel.

There are plus points as well. ‘When the staff stay here, I want them to have the best service, a nice room, and I want them to observe what it’s like to be a customer. In return I want them to tell me when something isn’t quite right. What would they do? How could they improve standards?’

He’s also persuaded Relais & Châteaux to adopt a similar scheme for staff in all 26 of its properties in the UK and Ireland.

‘When staff stay at another establishment, they’re looking at what it does to uphold its high standards. There are little things they can learn from other hotels and then say, if they do that, why not us? They also become ambassadors for those hotels.’

Master Innholders’ Mentoring scheme

In 2006, Murray volunteered to run the Master Innholders’ mentoring programme. The programme matches a St Julian’s Scholar – an alumnus of Cornell, Cranfield or Lausanne from a scholarship provided by the Worshipful Company of Innholders and The Savoy Educational Trust – with a Master Innholder, one of the UK’s leading hoteliers.

He’d already led the august body’s earlier initiative for six years, the ‘Moet & Chandon Scholarship’, involving essays by university students on how to improve standards in the industry. Like that earlier endeavour, Murray is taking this one seriously, and says he’s prepared to go on for as long as the energy and enthusiasm hold. He’s read countless books on mentoring since.

‘When I take something on I try to put total focus on it to make sure it’s a success. And I handle the mentoring programme mostly by myself because it’s very confidential,’ he says, over a delicious, health-inducing lunch in the Brasserie.

‘I’ll take someone like Ron Jones and I’ll look at a young man who may have been Savoy trained, talk to Ron and say are you happy with that? Then I’ll talk to the mentee and say, are you happy with this arrangement? I do the matching and then keep in touch with them.’

He’s now auditing the programme, which has about 21 mentors and an equal number of mentees. Experienced senior managers such as John Stauss of Four Seasons London, Peter Lederer of Gleneagles, and Graham Bamford at the Royal Garden Hotel in London are all mentors.

Sometimes mentors can be mentees too, which enables them to hone their skills from an even more senior mentor. Andrew Stembridge, General Manager of Chewton Glen, is both a mentor and a mentee. Murray thinks Stembridge is one of the industry’s rising stars. ‘He has the self discipline and the balance and reminds me of myself thirty years ago,’ Murray smiles.

‘Mentoring is about listening,’ he says. ‘What a mentor can’t do is say you must move from there to there. You’ve got to lead with sincerity and integrity, and think very carefully. This is the person’s career you’re dealing with, and they’ve got to make their own decisions. You’re there to guide and help, and relay what you did in a similar situation in the past. Maybe you weren’t always perfect and made mistakes too.’

Murray is delighted by the way the programme has developed. ‘I’m very pleased because I think it can expand not only in own our industry but right across the board. There are a lot of people who retire and feel they’ve got nothing left to offer, and that’s a great pity. Whatever they did, they have something to offer.’

The case for inspiration

‘The inspiration for young people comes from leaders,’ Murray says. ‘I was inspired by leaders, people I looked up to and wanted to be like. My advice would be to take the best of each person you look up to. There was one person I worked for who was always immaculate and stood out for it. But I wasn’t too keen on his attitude. So I told myself I was going to copy his appearance but not the way he talked to people.’

Then there was the role model who was good with people but not so good on appearance. ‘What you’re doing all the time is picking and choosing until you yourself decide your style. And my style was to always look immaculate, even if I had to appear at three o’clock in the morning. Because I think you lead by example, and as an hotelier, your appearance speaks for your pride and discipline.’

Andrew McKenzie, the 2007 Hotelier of the Year, said that when Harry Murray walks into the room, everybody checks their shoes and tie. ‘That’s good,’ he says, nodding, ‘because it means I’m inspiring people as an example.’

More than appearances

Everyone who knows Murray knows it’s much, much more than just a matter of appearances. Even if he does believe in hospitality as a form of theatre. ‘It’s not rocket science,’ he says.

If running hotels is indeed a form of theatre, Murray would be eminent producer-director. Behind the scenes but always deciding, always in control, and somehow at the same time getting the very best out of his actors.

Murray says he’ll never rest. He’s always thinking of how to do things better; it’s what keeps him going. ‘You can’t rest on your laurels, because people are still looking up to you and people are still waiting for you to fall off your perch.’

One thing is certain, after more than fifty years, the passion and the enthusiasm are still there, and the hotel and new Spa confirm that he’s still very much at the top of his profession.

Now it’s time to share train times from Chippenham and to order your return chariot. Again, the extended hand, the warm touch, and suddenly you remember all those courtesies past. Truly, Harry Murray is the best of his breed.

To find out more about Lucknam Park, visit their website on www.lucknampark.co.uk. You can email Harry Murray MBE at harrymurray@lucknampark.co.uk