The Camden King of Hospitality and owner of FEST and Shaka Zula, Roger Payne, is hungrier than ever and up for the fight!

Welcome back to the Posh Cockney Podcast, where each week we cover the latest hospitality industry news and talk about the Coronavirus pandemic which is affecting us all. This week's Hospitality Titan is the King of Camden nightlife and entertainment, Roger Payne.
Roger is a well-known London-based entrepreneur, hospitality expert and philanthropist with a background in licensing law, financial consultancy and high level catering.
Enhanced Hospitality Limited is the newly formed brand name for his various operations within this sector.
Roger employs a holistic approach to fine dining and entertainment venues where, under one umbrella, it is possible to control every element of a business as well as for the customer to enjoy just a drink, a bar snack or a complete evening including entertainment and/or dancing at any one of his venues.
From reservations, event management, staffing requirements, to an unbelievable database of over 500,000 customer names and addresses - essential for data capture, offers and reward schemes - Roger is able to mastermind the advocacy, strengths and opportunities for each of his award-winning businesses.
Renown for his direct approach to business, allied to a keen sense of humour and compassion, Roger lives with his lawyer wife, Lesley, between their homes in London’s fashionable Borough district and the World Heritage city of Bath.
For the past 21 years his abiding interest has been in developing his popular internationally renowned venues: The Cuban (www.thecuban.co.uk) , Shaka Zulu (www.shaka-zulu.com) and the recently acquired Gilgamesh (www.gilgameshbar.com).
During 2017 Roger made two new acquisitions , Blacks, a renowned private Members club in Soho , and the We Are Bar Group a small chain of high street bars and restaurants which included the Jamie’s wine bar brand amongst others.
Before moving full time into the highest-level in the hospitality industry, Roger enjoyed a career in high level catering. During the 1980s he worked in Switzerland and Germany in leading five-star hotels.
In 1986, The Lord Mayor of London presented him as a “Freeman of the City of London” – a unique and rare accolade for such a young man.
1996 Roger’s first success came with the brand development and consultancy of Jongleurs, the UK’s leading chain of Comedy Clubs during the 90’s.
Roger developed a chain of hotels, bars and Restaurants throughout London and has acted as a multiple licensee often overseeing as many as 20 licensed venues at one time through his unique operations system and his loyal managerial team.
Much of the early Millennium was spent chairing committees as the ‘Head of The Leicester Square Association’ - an organisation that brought together businesses, residents and other parties interested in safety and development within the entertainment industry of London.
Roger’s landmark business at that time, Sound, in Leicester Square, was one of London’s foremost entertainments venues featuring restaurants, bars, two late night venue, and television production facility, housed within the famous landmark, The Swiss Centre. It was successfully sold in 2011.
In 2001 he was appointed to the Board of ‘The Heart of London Business Alliance’, the UK’s first business improvement district, a body responsible for the safety and upkeep of the famous ‘West End’ of London, including Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square
Enjoy the show!