Joe was originally an engineer by trade and has worked all over the world. He has been a licensee for 17 years having taken over the Ship Victory pub in Chester in 1994. The Ship Victory is a traditional community pub in the heart of the city and it is a measure of Joe’s involvement in the community is that he has raised almost £100,000 for the Countess hospital in memory of his daughter Angela who died from cancer in 2002.
He has been actively involved in the Chester Pubwatch Scheme for many years and has held the position of Secretary since 2001. Chester Pubwatch is recognised by National Pubwatch as a strong independent scheme which is run by the licensee members. It promotes good practice and supports its members through a close working relationship with the local police and its training programme aimed at new licensees and their staff.
Joe’s hard work and good humoured approach to the role of Secretary has been crucial to maintaining the consistent approach needed to keep Chester Pubwatch relevant to the pub trade and an effective partner to the police and local council. Inspector Ian Thorp of Cheshire Police says, “Cheshire Police really values the relationship that it has with Pubwatch, which is extremely strong in Chester City Centre. Chester continues to record positive trends in relation to the levels of violent crime and anti social behaviour at night time in the City. There can be no doubt that the efforts of Joe Gildea together with other key individuals involved in Pubwatch have played a significant part in this success.
Whilst he is standing down as Secretary at the Chester AGM we are pleased that he has agreed to continue in the role of the Cheshire Regional representative to National Pubwatch where his experience as a both a licensee and Pubwatch member will be of great value to local licensees who need advice and guidance.”
