Meet the HDI Team
Darroch Bagshaw
Darroch has spent over 25 years providing insight to hospitality businesses of all types. Prior to joining HDI, Darroch worked for Mitchells & Butlers and Greene King in Director roles responsible for Insight, Location Planning, Digital Marketing and Pricing. When he’s not juggling data, he loves sitting in the pub, running up hills and Darlington Football Club.
Rob Thursfield
Rob has spent over 18 years within the hospitality industry specialising in insight and analytics. Before joining HDI, Rob worked for some the UK’s leading Pub Companies in various roles across FP & A, Commercial Finance, Pricing and Insight. During his spare time he enjoys rambling around the Peak District with Archie the Miniature Schnauzer, plotting which pub they’re going to ‘accidentally’ stumble across next.
Tommy Williamson
Primarily focused on Grocery, Tommy has over 30 years’ experience working on finding innovative ways to extract measurable value out of Big Data. He has held several Director/Head of Department roles managing IT Teams all around the world and was instrumental in designing and building availability systems for Walmart Global. Tommy is a blackbelt in Tae Kwon Do spending his spare time training or entering competitions. He is currently working towards competing in the 2023 World championships!
Mark Bentley
Mark has spent over 7 years in the hospitality industry, having led the Category Management team for the On Trade at Molson Coors before joining HDI in January 2023. Prior to this, he has worked in various Category, Insight & Marketing roles at Somerfield, Lyons Seafoods and Danone, giving him a real breadth of experience across both sides of the retailer-supplier divide. A qualified beer sommelier, he loves talking about all things beer-related and spending time outdoors, frequently running with his dogs at either Canicross or Agility events.
Ben Wooler
Hobby: Climbing, especially in the eastern peak district
Superpower: Finding a reason for a trip to B&Q or Screwfix
Helene Robinson
Hobbies: Eating and cooking, holidaying in the sunshine and running
Superpower: Innate ability to binge watch TV series – once finishing 22 episodes in just 1 day
Tim Balcombe
Hobbies: Music, gigs and festivals
Superpower: Can sense the imminent arrival of takeaway delivery drivers
Tom Freeman
Hobbies: Food and travel
Superpower: Iron stomach… will try eating anything, unless it’s spicy
Vishnupriya K P
Hobbies: Marathon running and travelling
Superpower: Can sleep more than 12 hours during a nap
Will Hall
Hobbies: Ultrarunning and UltraTriathlon
Superpower: Can eat 4000 calories in a single sitting at McDonald’s
Sally Brown
Hobbies: DIY, pub sheds
Superpower: Master of the circular saw
Jon Lees
Hobbies: DIY home improvement
Superpower: Banging a few nails into some wood since 1990
Jack Hill
Hobbies: Playing guitar, running and writing a bit of Python
Superpower: Breaking and fixing my PC on a near-daily basis
Dan Wyles
Hobbies: : Long walks, football and travelling
Superpower: Ability to get a good night’s sleep anywhere, including airport floors
Tahira Jamil
Hobbies: : Music &driving – preferably at the same time
Superpower: Tripping over flat ground
Corey Hunt
Hobbies: Watching and playing football, hiking and travelling
Superpower: Ability to lose the entire day to the PlayStation