Bio

Let us introduce you to your hosts!

 Mark J Daniels MBII

Born in the North Yorkshire town of Redcar, Mark was raised in a family of entertainers.  The son of musician Trevor and the nephew of magician Paul Daniels, Mark is a lively individual with a pertinacious personality and an entertaining sense of humour.  Mark originally wanted to be a journalist but ended up being an Estate Agent when he left school, before becoming a Fraud Investigator and then an Insurance Salesman.  Eventually he settled on a career spanning more than ten years as a Business Development Manager in IT, specialising in web analysis and search engine optimisation solutions, before he and his wife Alison took over as landlords of The Tharp Arms in the summer of 2005.  

As well as running the pub, Mark is a regular contributor to The Publican's Morning Advertiser, having migrated his popular opinion column and blog from The Publican magazine when the two publications merged in early 2011. More recently, Mark has begun contributing for new pub trade website InaPub News and is a feature writer for their monthly magazine. In the past he has contributed to trade publication BII BUSINESS magazine on the value of online technology for businesses and in 2010 was BBC Radio Cambridgeshire's "voice of Strictly Come Dancing."

Mark also provides training to small business on how to use social media and clients include the McManus Pub Company, the British Institute of Innkeepers and Greene King, and you can follow him on Twitter, Google+ and Facebook; when he can, Mark also contributes to his own personal blog, Did I Say That Out Loud?

Alison J Daniels MBII

Alison is The Tharp's chief cook & bottle washer, as well as playing mum to her and Mark's two boys, Malachy (11) and Jacob (8), who both take an active interest in the pub.

Starting out life as a trained carpenter - yes, you are more likely to find Ali doing the DIY than Mark! - she eventually took up a career in the hotel industry, first as a call centre operator and then reception management before taking a career break to have children.

In the past, Ali has been an active member of the local primary school, took a place on the Board of Governors and helped set up and run the School Council.

Today, as well as managing the day-to-day administration and accounting of the pub and running the kitchen, Ali provides buffet and catering services for small events, designs and sells cakes for all occasions and is a keen photographer, taking her Canon SLR with her whenever she can.

Her pictures have appeared in pub trade publications such as the BIIBUSINESS magazine and Inapub, with Ali always on hand to take photographs of public houses that take part in Mark's regular features; she is also a keen wildlife photographer and her pictures, available for sale, adorn the pub's walls. Have a look around, next time you visit...