A local hospitality worker has transitioned from an opening-night guest to a shift leader at Mojo Harrogate, marking an eight-year journey that mirrors the venue’s residency on Parliament Street.
In April 2018, the Leeds-founded cocktail bar group expanded its brand into North Yorkshire, securing a prominent commercial site on Parliament Street. Among the guests invited to the launch event on April 19, 2018, were local sisters Vea, then aged 12, and Iris, then aged 10, who were photographed sharing a slice of pizza inside the venue during its opening week.
Following the bar’s establishment in the town, Vea joined the venue’s employment structure upon turning 18. Over a two-year tenure, she progressed through the company’s internal development ranks from daytime service staff to the late-night team, recently securing a promotion to shift leader.
Vea, Shift Leader at Mojo Harrogate, said:
I started on the day team and then progressed to the night team, and I am now a shift leader. Mojo is very fast-paced; the best bit about it is meeting loads of new people a night and helping them enjoy their time, whether it is for hen dos, birthday parties, or just a night out.
Management are very hands-on with both training and supporting; it feels like they want you to grow and climb.
There are always internal competitions, so Mojo pays for you to go to London, for example, for working hard, which is awesome. I have also been to Wales as a reward to make my own rum.
Long hours can be hard, but you really get to know your team and everyone becomes close friends, which helps. They trained me from having no experience to being certified and studying for my personal license.
To mark the milestone this week, Vea, now 20, and Iris, now 18, returned to a leather booth at the Parliament Street site to faithfully recreate the original photograph captured during the venue’s launch campaign eight years prior. The business notes that internal training and structured upward mobility remain central to its retention strategy amid broader regional hospitality recruitment challenges.
Martin Greenhow, Managing Director of Mojo, said:
The two most important things to a hospitality business are their guests and their staff. The key to keeping and retaining the former is selecting, training, and nurturing the latter.
Traditionally, hospitality has been an employer of the young, providing start-out jobs for people or perhaps, on occasion, restart jobs when a career falters or an individual becomes disenchanted. Some stay a while, some find a home.
Historically, MOJO has benefited from longer staff retention than most companies. Currently, we have one senior member of staff who was with us when MOJO opened in 1996—albeit with a hiatus until he returned in 2019; another started as a bar back in 2012 and is now at the highest level within the company.
I like to think we’ve achieved this because we treat everyone equally and based on their individual merits alone. We train rigorously and whenever possible seek to promote from within. Beyond those basics, we strive to make work fun—every night should be a party that you get to host.
There are numerous skills I could list that are developed—guest service, cocktail making, personal license training, practical numeracy, and team leading to name a few—but in my opinion, the most important thing a team member develops is self-confidence.
An ability to look someone new in the eye, smile, possibly shake hands, and start a conversation. A capacity all too often lacking in many young people these days, born from lockdowns and turbocharged by our screen addiction, and one that, unovercome, will hinder their potential permanently.
The independent venue continues its operations on Parliament Street, offering cocktail masterclasses, private event bookings, and late-night hospitality. Further details on local recruitment opportunities and event scheduling are hosted via the official Mojo Bar digital platform (mojobar.co.uk/harrogate).
