Fantastic Man

Issue no 26 Autumn & Winter 2017 £6.00 or $14.99

FANTASTIC MAN

VILLAGE PEOPLE

On changing attitudes in the military, becoming the local landlord, and why behind every great man there’s always more than one strong woman.

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JAMIE PRICE 34-year-old JAMIE PRICE, the fantastic man with no regrets, who wishes there was a 24/7 Real Housewives channel and believes that women should rule the world, shares his views on equality, love at first sight and coping with rude customers.

Photography, styling and text FRANCESCA WHYTE

We settle down to talk at a huge wooden table in the cosy country pub JAMIE PRICE co-owns with his fiancé, surrounded by hunting memorabilia, photographs and taxidermy pheasants.

JAMIE tells of growing up in Llansantffraid, a small village on the Shropshire-Powys border.

He says he has never been the physical type but he loved art and travel; “when I was little, I wanted to be a fashion designer or an airline pilot”. JAMIE’S parents divorced when he was young, but his childhood was a happy one.

His mum SUE bought a pub in Welshpool and remarried. JAMIE describes his mum as the get up and do type with a strong work ethic. “She taught me never to rest on my laurels but to look for the next thing and strive to be the best as nothing comes for free.”

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JAMIE joined RAF air operations at 17, after his ex-army stepfather suggested it would answer to his love of planes and travel. It was 2001; a year after the ban on openly gay servicemen and women serving on the front line had been lifted. It wasn’t until he was 19 that he came out to his RAF colleagues. “Gay issues were never spoken about, not out in the open anyway” though, as time went on, “it was more accepted and tolerated but not everyone engaged in the matter.”

Air traffic control was to be JAMIE’s workplace for 16 years; first in radar services and later directing flight operations.

“I got to travel a lot, met some fantastic people, and it opened up many great opportunities.” Asked about his achievements one really stands out for him: “I was awarded

a Joint Command Commendation for services to diplomacy between UK and Israel during my time at the embassy there.” But all good things have to come to an end.

“As a lad, six months away on good money and no ties was great but, after creating a home with NICK, it was harder to go away on tour and I missed a pint, milk and normality.”

JAMIE PRICE and NICK TAYLOR were introduced by mutual friends. They texted for a week then NICK visited him in Oxford, “It was mutual love at first sight. I knew he was the person I wanted to spend the rest of my life with”. The society wedding of the year takes place not at Windsor Castle next May but at Loppington Hall on the 4 August. “We’re going to have Beverly Craven, that’s our song, Promise Me. I’ve emailed

FANTASTIC MAN her agent. I don’t care how much it costs, I just want her.”

In 2016 JAMIE and NICK bought the pub. “NICK had been a chef for 16 years and was fed up of not being listened to. I asked him about his dream and he responded ‘I’d love to buy a pub’. We viewed a few on a whim, rolled with it and here we are... landlords of THE DICKIN ARMS in LOPPINGTON, Shropshire.” The opening of the pub lead to JAMIE leaving the RAF. “The politics aside, I had an amazing time, it was a hard decision but it had to be made.”

Talking about the pub, JAMIE says “I enjoy being my own boss. It offers me freedom, and I work with my best friend”.

“I missed a pint, milk and normality” The worst part? “Occasionally the rudeness and negativity of some customers tips me over the edge – that’s when I call the team together for ‘shots in the cellar!’.

We take a moment to regroup before returning to the frontline with the smiles back in place.

Asked about his role models, he says “three strong women. My mum, obviously. My big sister VICKY – we’ve always been best friends; she’s a constant in my life and my rock.” Last of the trio is Loppington Hall’s matriarch, CLARE FISHER: “she has such a wonderful outlook on life and an ability to bounce back from any negativity. She’s eccentric and mad but I look up to her.”

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