Partner Article

Getting to know... Tim Wilks

We know you as the co-founder of Lane 7 and a member of the Entrepreneurs' Forum, but who is the person behind the title? Tell us a little about what makes you tick…

My work is absolutely not me. I know for a lot of people it is, and that's fine, but for me, I enjoy it, but it's just a part of living. Away from work, I love the outdoors, endurance events, and expeditions. I have two kids and a busy life, so in my own time, I love to be in places where phones don't work.

Over the years, I've climbed all the mountains in Scotland, rowed the Atlantic, completed Ironman events, and raced mountain bikes over the Alps. Those longer expeditions took a back seat when the kids came along, but they're coming back now as they get older. I try to fit in at least one two-week trip a year, either a personal challenge or an organised event.

What I love about it is that life becomes very simple. You just have to get from A to B. In a complicated world, there's something brilliant in that basic principle. I'm going to start here, and I'm going to finish there.

Did you always want to work in the industry you're in?

Not consciously, but I think subconsciously, yes. I come from a very social family, and I'm a very social person. When you're younger, chatting with your pals about what you want to do, my mind always came back to leisure and hospitality. It could have been running a hotel or a wedding venue. But it was always about being involved in big occasions and seeing people have a good time.

There's just something about seeing happiness when people enjoy a product that's serving them well. I think everyone in our industry has that same feeling. It's not unique to me. You find lifers in this industry, people who get behind a bar as a student, and that's it, they're hooked. I always knew I'd end up here, somewhere. I just didn't know exactly what form it would take.

What's the best bit about your job? And the worst?

The best bit is easy. I'm a creative person in both my personal and professional life. I work with a fantastic interior designer called Julie Chambers. We've worked together since site one, and I love the whole creative process. Finding a new site, the mood boards, figuring out what the customer journey will look like. What we're going to do differently. I love the buildout and the opening, too. That part genuinely doesn't feel like work at all.

The bit I hate? As the business has grown, I get further and further away from that, and deeper into legal contracts and spreadsheets. What makes it worse is that I'm actually quite good at that side of things, which means I can't just hand it off. We employ a lot of people, and there's real responsibility there. We're in a fun industry, but people have mortgages and families depending on our employment. Like any job, you've got to do the bits you don't like.

What do you consider to be your greatest achievement?

Honestly, I find this question hard, because I don’t look back. I only look forward. I think that's both a blessing and a curse. I probably should stop and celebrate the wins more. I make sure my team get the chance to do that. But personally, I'm always focused on what's next.

I always think my greatest achievement is still in front of me. I can see how that can be frustrating to hear, but it's just who I am. I'm in the moment, with half an eye on the future. I think it's nice to believe there's something better ahead, although I can also see why a lot of professional sportspeople struggle when they retire, because they know it's hard to replicate those highs. 

I'm 47, self-employed for over 20 years. I know exactly who I am, and I've made peace with it.

How do you relax outside of work?

I am very social. I love the pub. I'm heading to Rome this week for the Six Nations. As you get older, I’ve found that you have fewer but better friendships, and I like to make time for those. Good food. Good sport. Good company. Having said that, there's also nothing better than getting up on a Saturday, leaving my phone at home, and heading out on the bike for a couple of hours. Stopping for a coffee and a bacon roll, and seeing where the road takes me. I do need that part of the weekend to escape from the modern world.

We've got a really good business that has done very well, but I live a very normal lifestyle. My weekends aren't that different from anyone else's, and I like it that way.

What makes the North East such a great place to live and work?

I'm living in Bristol at the moment, but I come back every couple of weeks for work, and weirdly, I think I get better quality time with family and friends now than when I lived just a few miles away from them. Distance has a funny way of making you more intentional about the time you spend with people.

I've spent a huge amount of time over the years visiting cities across the UK and Europe looking for new Lane 7 sites, and I can tell you that Newcastle is genuinely wonderful. It has every type of entertainment you could need, a fantastic food offering, and a layout that makes it incredibly easy to move around. Only a handful of cities in the UK have an underground system, and there's something to be said for that.

Moving away, I've never felt prouder to be from the North East. Sometimes it takes a fresh perspective to really see what you have. People are proud of the north east, and rightly so. In fact, I've got a mural on my wall at home that says "I left my heart in Newcastle." And it's true.

Tell us something about you we didn't know…

I've got five international caps playing rugby for India. I don't think many people would guess that.

My grandfather was born in Lahore, which was in India before the partition. Through grandfather rights, I technically qualified to play for either Pakistan or India, though it took me until I was about 26 to realise it. The decision on which side to represent felt straightforward. My grandfather had a deep connection to India, having grown up there before leaving as a young boy, and he always carried it with him.

So, I played for a couple of years, debuting against Kazakhstan, and it was an extraordinary life experience. The culture, the people, the complexities of building team spirit in that environment, it would take a couple of beers and a full evening to properly explain. But every person involved, coach and player alike, was brilliant, and I'm still in touch with many of them now.

I played a good level of rugby back home too. Captain of Leeds Carnegie, played for Morley, came through Mowden Park, which is a feeder for the Falcons. My last game was at the Dubai Sevens, as a last-minute call-up by a pal who runs a high-quality invitational team. I'd already been retired for a couple of years, and by then, Sevens had become a specialist sport in its own right. I was miles off the pace. I haven't laced my boots since. And they're staying unlaced.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Entrepreneurs' Forum .