From Harmonies to Hospitality: How Angus Rimmer Wound Up Working in Clubs

There was a time when Angus Rimmer was destined for a music career rather than a role in the registered club industry. 

A keen trumpet player in high school, he was further immersed in music during a gap year at St George’s School in Windsor, a stone’s throw from the British royal family. In fact, it was here that he rubbed shoulders with the Queen, in what Angus describes as a humiliating but amusing experience inside Windsor Chapel. 

“I was invited up to sit in the choir stalls near the royal family… we were going through the program and we got to the national anthem — God Save the Queen— and there were no words printed for the songs, so I didn’t know the words,” says Angus in the latest episode of the ClubLIFE Podcast released today.

“So, I found myself sitting three metres away from the Queen with a bit of a sweat and going a bit red, trying to mouth the words to God Save the Queen — it felt like the longest couple of minutes of my life!”

Back in Australia he enrolled in a Bachelor of Music at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, during which time he helped to pay the bills with a part-time role at Chatswood RSL.

It’s here that a career in the club industry beckoned, with music taking a back seat to full-time roles at Balmain Leagues Club and Redfern RSL, followed by secretary manager appointments at Manly Fisho’s, Avalon Beach RSL, The Hills Club and then Club York — where he’s been CEO since 2022. 

With his feet barely under the desk, Angus put in train a $10 million transformation of the venue in the heart of Sydney’s CBD, which has resulted in record trade.

“We’ve just created a much nicer venue to come to and I think it’s a combination of things — I think the facility itself is greatly improved since we’ve finished the renovations, I think we’ve got our food right, which is really important, and I think our service is good as you’ll get anywhere,” Angus tells the ClubLIFE Podcast.

“People just want to come and have a nice time, they want to be treated respectfully, they want good hospitality, and they want to be looked after and made to feel welcome.”

Angus says the high level of hospitality at the Club has been modelled off their restaurant, Primi Italian, operated by contract caterer Goran, which was this year awarded the Best of the Best Award on TripAdvisor, which is given to the top one per cent of restaurants worldwide.

“He’s a very good operator, he’s very passionate about what he does, and he’s really shown what is possible within the club industry in terms of the quality and the service that can be provided in food and beverage… so we’ve been really lucky to have him,” says Angus about Goran.

In a wide-ranging interview, Angus also discusses the unique landscape of operating a registered club in the CBD, his early roles turning around the fortunes of struggling clubs and what it was like moving from the city to regional NSW as a young child.  

Click on the link below to hear the full interview with Angus Rimmer in the nineteenth episode of the ClubLIFE Podcast, which is also available via ClubLIFE.com.au, Apple, Spotify and wherever else you get your podcasts.

If you have a suggestion on who might make an interesting guest for a future ClubLIFE Podcast episode, get in touch with the team by emailing [email protected].