Day in the life
When HVP met Pimlico
On one of the coldest days of December 2010, in the aftermath of snow, slush and slow trains, Sarah Allen made tracks towards Pimlico, London, to see how the team at Pimlico Plumbers do things ‘Twas just days before Christmas. The morning I ventured to Pimlico Plumbers’ headquarters was riddled with problems caused by the cold weather and snow. After traipsing to my local rail station first thing, on the advice of a certain travel service website, I was met with a group of wannabe-passengers and a noticeboard informing me that my train was in fact 40 minutes late, no doubt due to the much-publicised ‘adverse weather conditions’. Furthermore, once the train arrived, there was not even the promise of it taking us to our desired destination, instead going two stops where we were made to wait for another train to take us the distance. Even once on this train, it decided to stop at random moments indefinitely, perhaps to take in the white sights of London, while a voice apologised over the tannoy, announcing that it had “to wait for the train in front before we can be on our way. Once again, apologies for the inconvenience.” I couldn’t help but wonder, if the weather could cause this much chaos to public transport – as it had done for several days before this, what will the weather have done to London’s plumbing systems? Once all the faffing, slipping and map-tackling was out of the way, I soon found out. Pimlico Plumbers’ offices are not too far from HVP’s, so the journey had a bout of déjà vu about it. Nonetheless, the world of the plumbers was vaguely unfamiliar. The building comes complete with its own Eastenders’-style 24-hour ‘caff’ complete with menus and the day’s Sun newspaper for all staff members: plumbers and call
Plumber’s little helper: Pimlico Plumber Tony Kilbryde and HVP’s Sarah Allen
centre personnel. As I sat down to a bacon sarnie and a cup of tea, I observed two cooks working away preparing a table. “Is this where Jamie sits?” asked one holding a tin foilcovered plate. The head cook nodded while rustling up more plates of carbs and fat/energy. They do say the way to a man’s heart is his stomach. I’m fast learning this is also the way to a plumber’s working side. This continued for three more imaginary patrons. Then four plumbers poured in and, with a brief sniff in my direction, took their seats – as though staged – each unveiling their respective dishes. We could do with some of this service back at HVP! Once I’d enjoyed my first Pimlico tea of the day and was
72 • HEATING VENTILATING & PLUMBING • FEBRUARY 2011
suited and booted, I was ready for my apprenticeship with Tony Kilbryde. As I’d missed Tony – who was out on a job when I arrived late courtesy of a certain local train service – Pimlico’s marketing manager Karl Plunkett suggested we take some snaps outside while I wait. The lovely Eric, the garage manager, quickly went into father-mode, urging me to put my jacket on before I go outside, even though I’d insisted I was warm. “And zip it up.” “I can tell you’re a dad”, I said, when he confirmed he was also a grandfather several times over. Once photos were done, Eric showed me around what I thought was a Pimlico shrine, which turned out to be the reception. The room was
adorned with framed autographed pictures from various celebrities and press clippings referencing either managing director Charlie Mullins or the company. Pretty overwhelming stuff. The celeb client wall of fame included the Absolutely Fabulous Joanna Lumley, Eastenders’ infamous aptlynicknamed ‘Dirty Den’ – played by Leslie Grantham – and Felicity Kendal, star of 70’s classic The Good Life. Once Tony arrived, we took a couple more shots before we were off. Tony told me this had been one of the busiest few weeks of the year, thanks to the wonderful weather. Let the games begin. PLUMBER’S LITTLE HELPER Our first job wasn’t as interesting as the client. Tony