What a week

Julian Borg

A dream job for many, publican Julian Borg tells Zillah Bugeja about his week behind the bar at City of London

Monday
I wake up at 10am, I always have late nights and can't sleep much either. My wife always brings me freshly squeezed orange juice and a cup of tea. When I feel like it, breakfast is eggs and bacon. Being married to an English wife, Jacqueline Mary, I don't drink coffee. Lunch is always a snack at City, seeing as we do sandwiches now, being roast beef and roast pork or smoked salmon which my wife prepares at home. She's an excellent cook.

One of the most important days! I usually plan for the whole week, so that I will know exactly what I'm going to do. First I order stuff for the bar to last the whole week, by faxing my agent, Steve Rausi Trading Co. Ltd. It's the quietest day of the whole week, in fact the bar should be closed, but I can't stand to see it closed.

In the afternoon I went to the Athenaeum at the Corinthia Palace. I've been a member for five years and I fully recommend it to busy people for a stress-free afternoon.

At the Athenaeum I can really relax. I swim, take a sauna and steambath and there was a vacancy so I had a massage by Mr Chang. He's the resident masseur and gives me acupuncture for my bad back. I don't book because I'd hate to cancel. I stay there till closing time. I often take a guest if I want to treat someone, who would keep me company too. I like to do 10 lengths of the pool, that's just right for me at the age of 57. I used to be a very good swimmer, in fact I held the record for the 100 metres backstroke in 1965.

On Mondays I always spend an hour on the computer checking my email at the bar, now that it's also an Internet café too. We have a webpage as well: it's www.yellowpagesmalta.com/cityoflondon. I like to go and spend the rest of the evening with my family, watching a bit of TV and reading, but I get restless watching TV for more than half an hour.

I love autobiographies, at the moment I'm reading Anthony Hopkins' biography, it's marvellous. He's temperamental like me, up and down.

My drink is Guinness, I take a pint nearly every night at the bar, check who's here, if there's something interesting going on I'll stay. Sometimes I come to work by bike but going back is a headache because it's uphill. And I never ride my bike at night, there's no respect for cyclists here.

Tuesday
Spent about an hour removing Christmas decorations from the bar. About 11am I picked up my dear old friend at the airport. He is staying with me while my wife is abroad because I tend to get lonely so I need the company. My wife and I tend to take separate holidays because of the business. I'm learning to cook, and am cooking for my house guest too. Although as I said before my wife is an excellent cook, I am thinking about my retirement in a few years' time, I'll have to take things a bit easier and will have time to do some cooking. I used to be too involved in the running of the pub. My daughter Emily Jane is being trained to take a more active role in the bar. I'm passing on my skills to her. She's just come back from a year in Australia where her training stood her in good stead. Customer relations are what makes a good pub. If you talk to your clients they'll come back. You have to be their friend and take an interest in what they say. My daughter and I do clash sometimes, but she has given me very good tips, and I never stop learning.

Had a business lunch with someone in the Farsons marketing department, at Chez Philippe Bon Pain. We had gravalax followed by braised fillet of beef in a wonderful sauce. I'm not a dessert man, although I make excellent crepes suzettes, a skill I learned while at the Hilton. I love to eat it but it's not a dish you find at restaurants, so I make them at home for family and friends.

I'm very much into French wines, my favourites being Chateauneuf-du-Pape and Nuit-Saint-Georges. In fact I visited the Chateauneuf-du-Pape and Pouilly-Fuissé vineyards last year.

In the afternoon I enjoyed some leisure time, and went to see the new IMAX film Everest. Something else I like to do is pop into the Dragonara Casino, win Lm10 and walk out. Being an ex-croupier I know you can only beat the system if you're not greedy – you can do well and you feel so good! The Dragonara Casino is my place, it's close, yet I'm looking forward to the new Venetian Casino opening. I always play poker and Blackjack. Roulette is a killer, they take your money in no time, but poker is something… even if you're losing, your luck can turn and you can still all of a sudden be on top.

Wednesday
My day off! I stayed late in bed and had a really good breakfast on the terrace. I read the Times properly for once (I read the Independent as well), because I haven't got to rush anywhere. I devote the day to my wife because she's always telling me she doesn't see enough of me.

If it's sunny I take in some sun on the terrace and if it's raining I sort out my office which is always such a mess. No-one's allowed in my office, not even the maid. It was raining, so I switched on my laptop and checked my email again and my wife always cooks me lunch or if we're in the mood we'll go out. My favourite restaurants are La Favorita and Grabiel in Marsascala. I'm a meat man while my wife loves fish. We went to Mdina for tea at Fontanella. We had a pot of tea and they have a lovely meringue I always look forward to. We walked around the bastions and savoured the view from the top. Yes, I admit that I am extremely romantic. I like to send roses and cards all the time, if I meet a nice person I'll send a rose, my wife doesn't mind. Last week I was at Malata and met four young ladies who I know, I bought a rose for each of them from Republic Street. A rose symbolises warmth, feelings, unity, red describes the heart. I especially love to send cards and little notes to my wife. We always leave notes on the pillow.

So back home after Mdina, we had a bath, changed into our bath robes, had a light supper and settled down to a good video. Once a month we watch Amadeus Mozart, he's my favourite composer. I always have one of his CDs in the car and if I'm stuck in traffic I won't mind. We don't watch the ending of the film, we know it and don't want to suffer more.

Thursday
It's my busiest day because the head barman Noel Tonna has his day off. So I get up earlier and by 9.30am I'm at the bar for deliveries from Farsons. I also do a spot check on the maid to see if she's cleaning well…

I'm here till at least 4pm, go home do my own personal things and back by 8pm. My daughter comes in sometimes in the mornings to help out. I'm totally relaxed at the bar, unless I have a nasty character in once in a while. That's when you wish you had another job.

Friday
Getting busier, it's the start of the weekend. There's normally something happening at the bar, a party, theme night, or happy hour. We had Joe Carr in the evening to perform live but unfortunately the younger crowd didn't like that kind of music, but I did! Anyway, we gave it a try. We're getting a name for having a younger set of patrons, 20 to 30s, and we're attracting a bit of a gay scene too, but it's international too and very mixed, relaxed and friendly.

Saturday
Leisure in the morning as I will finish late and I don't come down till 12am. I take it easy, saunter down, normally walk it there but get a lift back

Saturday is an opportunity to meet the businessmen, the managers and lawyers who come for a drink at lunch time, it's important for me. We have a good crowd at that time. Yet the crowd depends on the weather. We also have a good crowd of non-smokers who stay outside no matter what the weather and huddle up!

It's a good day to go to the Athenaeum late in the afternoon, especially in light of the fact that we stay late at the bar till about 3am. Especially with people being on the Internet… I've built a rod for my own back, really!

At City of London you meet a nice young crowd of revellers. They fill up here, because our prices are reasonable and they can get a good genuine drink, and they set off to Paceville about 2am.

Sunday
It's the best day regarding sales. The business crowd comes in for pre-lunch drinks, you get a mixed crowd age-wise. It starts to pick up at 3pm, builds up – by 5pm it's buzzing and climaxes at 6pm, when everyone's been for their drive and stop off here.

I forget everything else on a Sunday but work. I popped into L'Ordine for lunch, which I order over the phone and have my plate of pasta waiting for me with a half bottle of Bordeaux on the table. I eat and am out in fifteen minutes flat.

It's busy, busy, busy right up till 11pm. By 12pm the bar is absolutely empty unless you get some silly old fool who keeps you here… only joking!

When you're a publican, you have to evaluate every character that comes in. The secret of success is to know their background, suss them out and chat if they want to or leave them alone if they don't. I'm like a confessor, I make it a point to know every person's details.
Right now, all I can say about life is that I've never had it so good.