Karl

St John’s Tavern | 20y

Karl is the head chef of St John’s Tavern in Archway and has been at the pub for 19 years. He left school a year early and joined Prue Leith’s School of Food & Wine in Kensington for a year. After working in and around Oxford for three years, and stints working for his father’s art dealing business, he ended up travelling around Australia for about a year. “It was a very difficult time, around 1991 when there was a big crash, so it was tough to find much work”. He returned home and found a job in the kitchen of a country pub for a few years before heading back to London, temping with a Soho agency, and securing a job at the Groucho Club. At the time he lived on Archway Road and used to pop into St John’s on the way home; it was on his bus route. “I used to see people sat at the bar having a drink at around 1 or 1:30 in the morning so thought I’d join them!”

One day he was walking down the hill to the pub to ask if they had any jobs going themselves. About half way down, his agency called and told him about a sous chef position in the pub. “If I’d have been about 20 minutes earlier, I could have applied directly and saved myself a couple of grand!”.

After around seven years, and almost moving to another of the owner, Nic’s pubs in Ealing, he took a head chef role at St John’s and is still there today. When he first arrived, there was nothing around in terms of competition, now there are quite a few others nipping at their heels. The pub has a huge culture of regulars, though.

He’s always been passionate about the place, and about food, and believes that’s kept him there for so long. Things have evolved over the years - Karl and his team now make their own sourdough and desserts on site, and all ingredients come in fresh. In terms of increased awareness and knowledge of food and ingredients, “15 years ago everyone was a DJ, now everyone’s a foodie!” He believes that people still don’t quite understand the mechanics of a kitchen, though, and the sweat and tears that go into their dishes.

He’s had a lot of team members who’ve come back over the years after stints away, something he’s particularly proud of.