Kieron Charles Tanner

As Deputy Venue Manager at one of Manchester’s most high-profile nightlife destinations, I am responsible for the successful running of two distinct late-night venues, ARK and Popworld. I led cross-functional teams, delivered high-impact events, ensured full compliance, and consistently exceeded sales and service targets. Known for combining operational control with creative event planning and strategic networking, I helped elevate the venues’ reputation, efficiency, and profitability.

Venue Operations & Compliance

Oversaw daily and nightly operations across both venues, managing teams of 30+ staff. Held full accountability for health and safety, licensing laws, incident reporting, and shift control. Successfully maintained green NSF health & safety ratings and achieved a GOLD standard cash and stock audit, demonstrating operational excellence and attention to detail.

Event Management & Atmosphere Creation

Led the planning and execution of themed nights, student events, and seasonal campaigns, ensuring high footfall and strong brand presence. Personally oversaw the technical delivery of events, including sound and lighting configuration, DJ and artist setup, and timed visual transitions to maximise atmosphere and crowd energy.

VIP & Artist Liaison

Fully restructured the VIP and table service operation, introducing new team protocols, upsell strategies, and customer service training, resulting in improved guest satisfaction and increased average spend. Acted as primary liaison for performers and VIP clients, coordinating logistics, technical needs, and artist welfare with full discretion and professionalism.

Sales & Networking

Played a key role in driving consistent weekly revenue growth through creative campaign execution and direct collaboration with promoters and influencers. Utilised LinkedIn and in-person networking to strengthen partnerships with corporate clients, student societies, and event organisers.

Cellar & Stock Management

Took full responsibility for cellar operations, including, stock rotation, wastage tracking, and supplier liaison. Supported back-of-house efficiency and ensured high standards of cleanliness and delivery readiness.

Health & Safety & Emergency Response

Supported and implemented the venue’s health and safety training and crowd management policies. During a medical emergency, I administered immediate life saving first aid to a guest, calmly coordinating the team and emergency services to ensure a safe outcome.

Team Leadership & Development

Recruited, trained, and mentored a large team of front of house and management staff. Introduced structured training plans and performance reviews that increased staff retention and morale. Empowered team leads to take ownership of shifts and develop their leadership skills.

Crisis Management & Technical Oversight

Regularly managed high-pressure scenarios, including capacity challenges, technical faults, and customer incidents. Personally handled on-the-night troubleshooting of lighting rigs, sound systems, and live event delivery to avoid downtime and maintain event flow.

Formely managed the Award Winning & South Wales’ Flagship LGBTQ Nightclub, PULSE Cardiff. My duties included, but were not limited to;

• Overseeing all nightclub operations to the venue with a capacity of 2,000 guests.
• Carefully monitoring venue security and providing insight onto methods to maintain guest safety.
• Monitored stock sales & CFA displays.
• Scheduled regular team meetings to discuss business updates, issues and receive feedback on my operational and managerial style.
• Implemented unique nightlife promotional strategies on ‘Off’ Nights; creating additional revenue.
• Improved employee morale, motivation, and happiness; turnover was nearly zero.
• Secured booked talent, including musicians and DJ’s.
• Assessed impact of marketing programmes and recommended improvements.
• Coordinated event logistics, marketing visuals and provided pre- and post-event evaluations.
• Responsible for running all aspects of the club focusing on cleanliness, proper stocking, set-up, inventory procedures and exceptional customer service.
• Planned and implemented an entire online marketing campaign including revising and updating their company website as well as developing a presence and posting on such social media sites as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.
• Taking guest welfare into my own hands and providing training to bar staff on how to remain calm and handle various situations safely.
• Effectively managed labour spend and cost control from forecasting sales predictions each week and planning events well in advance.

During my time in this role I have learned so much about my managerial style and received invaluable experience to safely operate a busy venue and organise high-turnover events. I have had the opportunity to work in both a corporation and an independent organisation and believe this has helped me develop as a well rounded and efficient General Manager during my time within this role.

In September 2022, I joined late night venue operators, REKOM where I have helped manage and assist the openings of two new REKOM owned sites in South Wales both DISTRICT Cardiff Nightclub and Proud Mary Pub Cardiff. During my time at both of these sites I have achieved the following:

• Addressed customer issues calmly and professionally, delivering quick, successful resolutions.
• Trained staff on best practices to achieve optimal productivity.
• Evaluated staff performance, implementing training and development programmes to maintain exceptional service levels.
• Strengthened operational efficiencies through improved reporting and stock management.
• Analysed sales and data trends to anticipate customer needs.
• Recruited, interviewed and hired high-performing individuals, developing passionate, dedicated teams.
• Created expense reports with matching receipts.
• Supported long-term business need strategies, generating customer relations feedback for process improvements.
• Worked with the Channel Activation Manager to increase social media and marketing reach.
• Oversaw audits to collate accurate data and recommend constructive improvements.
• Investigated complaints, incidents and accidents at work.
• Managed a multi-room venue through peak trading hours.
• Led Frontliner meetings for further training and team bonding.
• Managed labour spend and security costs.

I believe REKOM have helped me to develop further in my venue management skills and installed the founder mindset into my daily and working mentality.

In April 2022 I was appointed as a Deputy Manager within The Stonegate Group Venues division. During the first eight months of my time working within the Stonegate Group, I have been able to contribute to X6 site sales records and helped implement new business strategies to improve our guest experience and generate further sales alongside the team.

I have also worked with our security team to ensure our venue focuses on our customer care and conflict management that as a result has previously helped us achieve the #1 position in our division reputation ranking via Rep.com on the back of a national lockdown and temporary full site closure back in December 2020 due to the global pandemic that hit the nightlife industry.

I have a good relationship with the council and local authorities (SWP) & Licensing and can handle admin and insurance claims alongside the relevant persons. I have recruited, trained and worked alongside many team members during my time here to reduce staff turnover and ensure the sites volume per hour continues to increase. I have contributed to £70k in site sales as well as forecast costs for each period.

I take pride in my venue and this can be shown through our reputation, our returning customers, site sales and NSF audit score (Venue Standards Rating). I am responsible for handling security issues alongside our doorteam (Bridgegate Security) and have a strong reputation for handling customer complaints successfully.

In August 2021 I made the tough decision to leave The Vale Resort in an industry change to something I believed would be the next step in my career.

This decision turned out to be what I believe is the best decision I have ever made. I began by working behind the bar on late evenings after the hours of The Vale Grill and heading straight to the nightclub to work. This is something that took a toll on me for a short while before I made the decision that the nightlife industry was the career that I believe I am most tailored for as a result of my previous history in bars and in customer facing roles.

Upon dropping out of university due to my passion for the industry and my desire to pursue a fulltime management opportunity I began to seek for the next opportunity.

Upon proving myself within Stonegate I was offered the role of Team Leader and then later to become a Duty Manager within my current venue Popworld Cardiff.

Here I assisted the General Manager with the day to day running of the nightclub and help strategically plan to ensure we hit our business objectives each week.

My position required me to lead a team within the venue and ensure general customer safety and standards are being maintained at all times whilst promoting the licensing objectives of our business and adhering to The Stonegate Group’s company policies.

During the COVID-19 Pandemic I was required to offer support to other sites within the area to ensure standards and team support was kept up.

In 2022 I was enrolled onto the Deputy Manager training course known as ‘The Accolade’ to further enhance my knowledge and understanding of the nightclub business and my abilities within my role to help take my career and my venue to the next level.

In May 2021 I accepted a role within the Leekes Organisation based at ‘The Vale Resort’ once more returning to the food and beverage operations division at the AA rosette-winning Vale Grill.

This role proved to be a much needed step up within my career in hospitality and taught me an array of the skills needed within daily resort management and within F&B.

I worked across multiple areas of the resort and provided support in both the front and back of house to strengthen the level of service provided to our guests and had the pleasure of working on the front door as the host of The Vale Grill during my spell within the resort.

The role helped me develop my communication skills and my eye for details due to the high volume of customers requiring a high end service that we were expected to offer being a luxury resort.

During my time I also helped assist the running of the kitchen pass and lead the appointed servers to ensure high quality delivery and presentation of carefully crafted dishes within the menu we offered. I was also held responsible to handling customer enquires within our F&B division due to my interpersonal skills being one of my strong points. I can also bring value by helping to boost business reputation by helping others gain the skills needed to attract public reviews on multiple platforms through hospitality offered.

The position also helped me gain the confidence to run the bar alone without needing support on busier evenings as well as run popular sections within the Grill with ease and providing a personal experience with our guests.

The Vale Resort helped morph all the skills I had learned in other restaurants and hotels and put them into practice to a high standard.