TRIBUTES PAID TO LONG-SERVING AND GOOD HEARTED SHEPHERD NEAME PUB GENERAL MANAGER

A pub General Manager who has died at the age of 53 has been remembered as a dedicated father, husband and businessman with a good heart.

Darren Bispham, who was General Manager of Shepherd Neame’s Singleton Barn in Ashford, passed away on Friday (June 2) after a battle with cancer.

Darren had run the pub in Hoxton Close, Ashford for 13 years, and had been known for his friendly caring personality and emphasis on helping the community.

Married to Ursula for 27 years, he had been passionate about the pub, his team, and the community it served, continuing to enjoy working until a few weeks before his death.

“He would always go out of his way to help people,” said Ursula. “He was passionate and caring, and he loved his job. He wanted to make sure people were happy at work. He had a big heart, a good heart.”

“The main thing for him was to bring the community together. The Singleton Barn is a community pub and that was the most important thing for him.”

The couple met while working as in TV and radio in South Africa with Darren as an executive chef and Ursula as a catering manager, before moving to Lancashire to be near Darren’s parents, where he managed a number of pubs for Greene King.

Later moving to Kent, he worked for the Spirit pub company running The Chimneys in Leybourne for six years, before starting at the Singleton Barn in 2010.

“When we got here he worked so hard,” she said. “Even during his chemotherapy he still enjoyed working. Going to work and being amongst other people, and making sure the staff were fine was what he wanted to do; it kept him going. He was a dedicated father, husband and businessman.”

Managing Director, Pubs, Jonathon Swaine, said: “Everyone at Shepherd Neame is deeply saddened by Darren’s death. He worked for the company for 13 years, putting his heart and soul into his pub, the Singleton Barn. He will be deeply missed and we look forward to seeing many of his regulars and the community celebrate his life with his family on June 25.”

A tradition to host the local primary school’s Year 6 leavers’ party, started when his son Nathan was in Year 6, continues to this day. And each August bank holiday the pub also chooses a local charity to benefit from a fundraising day with a hog roast. 

Darren, who had children, Nathan, 21, and Clarissa, 17, with Ursula, will be remembered at a Celebration of Life at the Singleton Barn on Sunday, June 25 from 2pm, when everyone is welcome to join the family in remembering him.

Ursula said it had been his wish to do something for everyone but ‘keep it simple’.

“We wanted as many people as possible to come, so we wanted it on a weekend. This is what Darren wanted. He said to me ‘If I go, just keep it simple’. He was very much a ‘get it sorted’ person.”

A DJ will be playing the music he had enjoyed with 80s tunes, reggae, blues and jazz.