Tribute to David Rogers

I first met David 19 years ago when he arrived at Cardiff Bay Harvester in his VW camper van. From that moment on he became a cherished friend and a lifelong presence in my life. This past week I’ve had the honour of supporting his remarkable team at Thornhill through these difficult days. Their dedication to honouring David’s memory mirrors the way he would have supported them. Rest in peace, my dear friend. You are deeply missed.

Saddened to hear of Dave’s passing. I had the pleasure of completing my Prospects (Hippo) GM programme with him back in 2011/12, followed by numerous courses over the years, and finally working as his OPM across various sites. He was one of the good guys. Rest in peace, Dave. My thoughts are with his family, friends, and colleagues at this sad time.

David! You will be missed good sir! I will always remember you for your infectious smile and kind heart. The times on Microsoft teams when technology wasn’t working! Sending my deepest condolences to your Family. You will always be in our thoughts. Jenna - Miller & Carter Gloucester

Sending heartfelt condolences to all of David's family, friends and the many, many team mates and colleagues he has worked with over the years. David trained, coached and developed many current managers and his loss will be felt far and wide across the hospitality industry. Personally I had the pleasure of working with David for almost 15yrs, initially at Harvester Sarn and then in Miller & Carter at both Bristol City Centre and then Thornhill. So many business achievements over the years and just as many funny stories! I still laugh when I remember David (during a health kick he was on) coaching his district colleagues on how to get out of a chair using core muscles only......we'd all had a few drinks at the time and his practical demonstration was simply hilarious! I am sure everyone will remember David in our own way but for me he was a hard working, high-achieving manager who always put his team before himself. He will truly be missed, but never forgotten. RIP David.

Dear David, You were one of a kind. Thank you for always being at the end of the phone. Thank you for making me laugh so hard i'd cry. You brought joy to my life when i wasn't feeling particularly joyful. And now i feel i really took that for granted. Thank you for being the friend i didn't know i needed. I am thinking of all your loved ones at the very difficult time. I hope you are up in heaven with a nice cold peroni.

Such Sad news, ever present in my journey with MAB ,Always the gentleman and considerate. Will be missed by so many with the shadow he cast .

David, I am beyond words on what has happened and struggling to come to grips with it all. I have known you for over 30 years and our paths kept crossing - from our days at the Watermill to you being at M&C Thornhill (and everything in between) Your kindness was always noted and leaves a big void May you rest in peace

David, our paths crossed a few times in M&B - I was absolutely shocked to hear the news and my thoughts are with you, your friends and family at this difficult time. Your contributions to your businesses and teams across South Wales will always be remembered and I will certainly miss your smile at meetings, Regards Sam & Team Browns

Dave you were a true gentleman great work colleague being up the road from you , when we saw each other always moaning about labour !! You will be missed greatly by your family your team and the greater MAB family . RIP Mr Rogers 🤍

David, there are no words to describe how much you are going to be missed. Being a part of your team at Thornhill was truly an honour. You were an unbelievable boss during a dark time in my life, so supportive and went above and beyond to help me whenever you could. Even so far as to leaving work and going to purchase me a phone when mine was destroyed. Having yours and the teams support gave me strength to leave my situation and become the person I am today. I will be truly forever grateful to you. To the highest paid food runner to ever exist.. I will miss you! Sleep & rest well. 💕

✨Dear David, I wish that I could thank you in person for all the happiness, that being part of your amazing team, with you at the helm has brought to my life 🫶🏻 I’m so proud to have known you & worked for you I will be forever grateful for the changes that being a part of your Thornhill family has brought to my life. You were true leader & you were never too proud to don a set of chef whites 👨🏽‍🍳or to jump onto pot wash when the kitchen staff were snowed under. You had a subtle & jokey way of telling us if things weren’t being done right, I really respected that about you! An example; When I was learning to do expo & you were on plate up helping the chefs (as you often did)! I was garnishing with watercress and I heard, “Hayley, what’s that on the plate”? “It looks like there’s whole tree on there”! so the tree became a branch & it did look much better! I wasn’t very confident when I first came to work for you, but the friendly & homely way M&C Thornhill was ran under your leadership, has changed that for sure.. There were some funny times too !! only last week, while you were washing pots I heard a noise and turned around to see you drenched, your shirt was soaked through, but you were just laughing and trying to blame the tap (Which was working fine)! I will remember your kindness too .. When my Granddaughter was about to be born, earlier than she should have been.. i rang Thornhill & you answered, I knew it was busy and was blabbering on and you just said in the nicest way “Hayley just go & be with your daughter & send her our love” I did say to you last time I spoke to you, how much you would be missed and who the hell is going to teach me how to cut lemons? but I didn’t realise then that I would never see you again! It would be a final goodbye🥺 So I’m sending you this message now & I mean it from the bottom of my heart, it’s been a real pleasure working for you sir 🫡.. I will raise a toast(namely, a pint of peroni) in your honour on every future St David’s day. RIP lovely kind David aka Rog ✨ 🍻✨X

David (Mr Handsome) One of the best and highest paid food runners I had the pleasure of meeting in my hospitality career! X You were kind hearted and caring. Your life mattered and still does!! Keep shining your light in the skies xx

I've missed each and everyone of you well I've been off. Working with you all feels like being part of a crazy little family. Rog was the heart of that family. I can't imagine coming back to work and not seeing him💔 I'm going to miss him walking past the bar at 8:50 asking what time is it? We all new that it was paroni time🥲 Or the look on his face when I was on an open. I would hand him the sheet after doing the count. We both already knew it was going to be wrong🙈😂 He would just give me that look and smile. him resetting my password everytime I needed to do my training. Iloverog@123. RogisThebest25 are few I actually remembered🥲. when I was hiding my pregnancy from everyone and he would say little comments and watch me panic. Like where's you tie Tara? Only pregnant people don't have to wear a ties. Or say my shirt is looking abit small 😂 I would look at him and he would have his little smile on his face and walk off. Reading everyone's memories of him have mad me smile and cry at the same time❤️💔💔 He will truly be missed💔 Rest in peace David🕊️🤍

I’ve been struggling to find the right words, because losing David has knocked the breath out of all of us. It still doesn’t feel real. What I keep coming back to is the version of him we all knew — the full, unfiltered, brilliantly infuriating, wonderfully human David. He was, without question, a giant pain in the arse… but he was our giant pain in the arse. The kind you wouldn’t swap for anything, because underneath the grumbling and the winding‑up was someone with a huge heart and a loyalty that ran deep. There were things he loved with absolute conviction: golf (even when it drove him mad), good food, and a cold Peroni that he believed could fix most of life’s problems. Those small joys were part of what made him who he was — and part of what made him so easy to picture, so easy to miss. But what I admired most was how much he cared about people. He had a real passion for mental health and wellbeing, and he noticed when someone wasn’t okay. He checked in. He listened. He cared in a way that was quiet but genuine, and that mattered more than he ever realised. My funniest memory of David personally is how we use to wind each other up! I locked myself out of the system and couldn’t get back in without a password reset! My new password he gave me??? Tracyisatwat@123😂 my new password in response, Davidisaknob@123 His loss leaves a space that can’t be filled. I will miss his humour, his honesty, his stubbornness, and the way he made the team feel like a family — even on the days he drove us all up the wall. Please know he was loved here. Truly loved. And he will be remembered with a mix of laughter, affection, and the kind of stories that only someone like David could leave behind. With all my sympathy, Tracy xxx

To David, You hired me just gone 4 years ago and for 4 years, you joke saying you must have been drunk to hire me. Some would say we had a love / hate relationship, but the truth is we never hated each other; it was always love and just a dark sense of humour where we’d rip into each other. And in a million years I’d never thought I miss the grilling of not wearing my tie and tying my apron so it’s shorter and telling you “ I'm starting a new fashion trend”, and yet I’m sat here in disbelief that your gone. It don’t feel right , you was taken away to soon, and we still had many more years of us ripping into each other. What I would do to work another Saturday morning shift on the bar, where you take your tea with 2 sugars and not too much milk and ask me if I’m okay, and then tell me I couldn’t count as I do the wine count wrong again the previous Wednesday. Us joking around was our kind of our relationship, but we also shared a heart felt moment or two… I miss you very much roge , and I’m tearing up just writing this, you was loved so heavily at work and you was more than a GM. You was a man who wore is heart of his sleeve and would go out his way to help others in any way he could. And that quality within itself is hard to come by, I hope someone is pouring you a peroni and doing a little boogie shouting " PERONI TIME" , Missing you always

I’m pretty lost with words knowing that you’re no longer here! I worked with you for 7 years and the littlest things like hearing you answer the phone saying “hello miller and carter how may i help you” will be very much missed, seeing you watering the plants in the summer, tidying up the leaves with the huge leaf blower, conversations about my house move at the cutlery polishing station and going around with the feather duster. It was only last monday we had a heart to heart and you were understanding of my feelings when i was feeling down, it goes to show how much you cared for the team. You will be so so so missed David Rogers