The art of front of house: meet Gamba Supervisor Julia Skelly

The art of front of house is as natural as the weather to Gamba supervisor Julia Skelly. A contemporary landscape artist in her spare time, she’s been with Gamba since November 2022 and is already part of the fabric of the place because she’s had a wealth of experience working in Scottish hospitality.

Restaurants glasgow city centre: Julia’s story

Originally from the village of Killearn, nestling under the Campsie Fells and 17 miles from Glasgow, Julia’s worked in a variety of hotels, pubs, and restaurants

She says: “I started in hospitality as a KP, then a waitress at The Black Bull, Killearn. After that I worked at a wee pizza shop in Glasgow called Pizza Magic, and from there I went to McDonald’s.

 “Then college in Edinburgh beckoned - a course in events that was short-lived because I didn’t like it very much. It was based around hospitality, and I already knew a lot about it by then so I just wasn’t learning anything new!

 “Then came a stint working at Buddy’s on the southside in Glasgow – now Black Rooster – immediately before starting at City of Glasgow College where I studied art and industrial culture, a course involving a wide range of art.”

Best restaurant Glasgow: the art of front of house and painting

That’s why the art of front of house at Gamba is accompanied by painting in Julia’s repertoire.

 “I studied computer art, that’s coding and animation, and I did sound, and film, so it was a very wide scope of contemporary art and researching different things and processing them and building a portfolio.

“I did this for year and then I went to work at The Amsterdam, and then at Ox and Finch, before joining Gamba.

“I’d been working in hospitality for about a decade by this point.

 “I paint in my studio in Partick, Glasgow, when I’m not at work. My contemporary landscapes are a wee bit abstract. I take research trips to inform them, taking photos and sketches, documenting shapes and colours. Then I go back to the studio and see what comes.

“I taught myself to paint in a way in the way I like to see paintings and this took off in lockdown and I now have a wee Instagram page as a shop window for my work: @juuuustudio.”

 The beauty of working in hospitality

 What, says Julia, is the beauty of working in hospitality?

“The people. It’s great fun to be part of somebody else’s excellent and memorable restaurant experience.

 “My art practice is a wee bit solitary, so coming into Gamba and being able to talk to people and make their day brighter by giving them first-class customer service is a great, and a rewarding contrast.

“Working somewhere with pride of product like Gamba, you naturally take more pride in your work.”

Excellent customer service at Gamba

 “I’ll be talking with a customer about a place I’ve been to when painting and it will lead on to them asking me about my practice and ask to see some of my work on my instagram page.

“Some people see people as people and they will try to get to know you, which is nice.

 “Our maître d' Gregor Munn is great. I’ve learned a lot from him. He knows all the customers so well!

“The service and the conversation you have is tailored to the customer and when you go over to the table, you have more opportunity to speak to them, whereas in a pub it’s all over the bar, and you might develop more of a rapport on their third visit of the night to the bar, but not always.

“That’s why Gregor knows so many of the regular customers here of course, and I’m really enjoying getting to know the customers too. It’s the key to excellent customer service at Gamba”

Favourite Gamba cocktail and fish dish

“My favourite dish Ginger Margarita or Apple Old Fashioned. Food-wise, it’s anything with halibut.

“When I started, our chef-patron Derek Marshall gave me his cookbook which my dad immediately snatched out of my hands. He’s the cook in the family and we have a family caravan in Tarbet and it gets used a lot up there because you can get so much fresh produce!

 “Away from the job, I also like wild camping and climbing hills – as often as I get the opportunity. I was in the Cairngorms at New Year. It was fun. Very snowy though. “

By Jason Caddy