Blog. London Essence #hikeforhospitality

Over the summer, the incredible team at London Essence went above and beyond by conquering the 3 Peaks in 24 hours in our honour. This demanding feat involves scaling the highest peaks in England, Scotland, and Wales, pushing both mental and physical limits. We spoke to Toby Ballentyne, Head of On Trade – South, to learn more about their amazing experience and why they decided to #hikeforhospitality.

“As we entered 2024, we knew we wanted to do something positive which brought us closer together as a commercial team and gave something back to our industry, which has gone through many challenges and pressures since 2020. We decided to fundraise for Hospitality Action as a close-to-the-ground resource for those in our sector most affected by financial and mental health struggles.

Matt Dooley in our team is a Chairman for Mountain Rescue and not only is regularly on call for emergencies but is often on Scafell Pike – as well as having done the 3 Peaks many times before! Having Matt gave us an opportunity to capitalise on his expertise and experience – and so London Essence decided to collectively do all 3 Peaks in 24 hours.

There is a mix of experience across our team and so we relied heavily on Matt for things like the kit list, routes to take, and top hacks to get the most out of this experience (spare socks, lots of water and sweets, and quality feet plasters!) Having Matt also meant that we didn’t have to add the additional cost of hiring a tour guide and ultimately gave more back to Hospitality Action. The organisation was very straightforward… minibus van hire from Chester (where we all met and drove to Fort William) a hotel for the night before the 6am start in Ben Nevis, and a train back from Chester after the climb.

Britvic are amazingly supportive, not only do we have three charity days a year to have the freedom to give back in whatever way we can, but they also subsidised train travel and the hotel. We collectively had to just then pay for van hire, provisions, and suitable gear including shoes.

We raised a total of £3,065 online, and Britvic topped this up with another £1k which hugely boosted our fundraising efforts and exceeded our target of £4,000. It was certainly a challenge but such a positive experience that brought us closer together and helped us understand each other better. The highlight was certainly feeling exhaustion on the way back down Snowden but seeing the golden sunrise hit the side of the mountain! We’ll look to do more of these in the future.”