Hamish Smith catches up with Bobby Hiddleston and Mia Johansson following the couple’s move from Swift to Sweden.

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BH: We've left the UK for Stockholm. Mia is from Sweden, and all her family and friends are here and I have a very good network here as well. We've each spent 15 years in London and, while we love the city, we feel that we'd prefer to raise a family in the Nordics. Leaving Swift was a bittersweet side effect of this decision - we'd love to have been able to take it with us but through discussion, it wasn't possible. We are very hands-on people, so it is the best decision. 

MJ: We are so excited to start a new chapter, it isn't every day you get to just start over and do it with previous experience so we are nervous but grateful to have the chance. It also takes a village to raise a baby and our families are here, cousins, siblings and best friends, so it was the best option for the three of us. And free childcare and education aren't really to be ignored.

How long has this been in the works - was starting a family always the plan?

BH: We'd been half-heartedly talking about moving to Sweden one day for years. It always felt inevitable, but there was no set timeline in place until we started IVF a couple of years back. We both knew that we wanted a family, and we both preferred the concept of doing so away from London. Obviously, with the business monopolising our lives, this was always going to be a challenge, but neither of us are shy about facing a challenge! Swift has the rights to the name in the EU and Australia - including Sweden - so we naturally hoped our involvement with the business would continue when this all happened, but the logistics of doing so (at this time, at least) proved untenable.

MJ: Sweden was always an option as it is my heritage but it wasn't on the table until we struggled and realised we needed more support emotionally. I was only 27 when we opened Swift 8 years ago, and at that point, I was certainly blinkered to the wonderous world of hospitality, Covid changed that as it did for many others though. Work has always been wonderful and tough at the same time, it's been time away with loved ones was our real missing puzzle piece. Which is probably why we invested so much of our hearts into the team and creating that atmosphere we ourselves were missing. Turns out it was there where the magic of Swift laid, so we will be taking that recipe for success with us.

Not many people have kids and continue to work in operations - are the two compatible? What can be done do you think?

BH: It can absolutely be done - just look at our business partners Ed & Rosie - but it requires discipline, excellent time management, and a strong network of people you can trust, and not everybody has those. We've always jokingly referred to our three bars as our babies because the parallels of effort and costs are strong, and adding actual children to the mix only multiplies everything needed.

MJ: Oh, I have seen it be done well, but it takes an army, from family to staff to adjust and mould a new lifestyle. But that is the secret to a good working company anyway, adapt and try something new if need be.

You're not leaving hospitality forever - what do you see yourself doing in a few years?

BH: I don't think I'm leaving hospitality at all! I'm still helping out Swift remotely for a couple of months as a handover, but then I'm taking a couple of months off, to reset my brain and find out what direction I want to go next. The truth is that I'm very open to offers. I'm fairly certain I want to stay in the alcohol industry, but I enjoy the practical side of things more than I do the paperwork (don't we all!). Maybe I'll go into bar management once more, maybe I'll lean further into whisky, maybe distilling - who knows! All I know is that I want to be happy in my job more than I crave accolades now. Mia and I are writing a Swift Drinks book in the background as well, although that is more of a side project.

MJ: Hospitality is very much my personality, who knows what that looks like after having children. I love working in the world of Vodka, but I also love looking after events and seeing a project done from beginning to the end like a wedding or a large birthday. I think the late nights behind the bar for me might be a thing of the past, I have other kinds of late nights with bottles to look forward to. 

Bobby: how's your Swedish? And what are you looking forward to most about relocating?

BH: It's improving, certainly. Everyone in Sweden speaks English so I can get by just fine, but it's important to me that I learn the language. I'm mostly looking forward to a less stressful world. Stockholm is still a big city and enjoys all the benefits of one, but the frantic urgency of London just doesn't exist. It was great when I was 22 and felt the need to prove myself, but I don't want to win imaginary races on the tube anymore.

Tell us about your fondest memories of the UK - Swift-wise or besides.

BH: Aside from 18 months in New York, I've spent my entire life in the UK, and have been in London since 2009, so most of my memories are from there. Moving to London in a Megabus during a snowstorm, my first day at Milk & Honey where my ego was systematically torn down and rebuilt, Rematch Beeyatch, watching Mia's shocked face when we won our Tales plate in 2017, pints in the Shillelagh, staff parties in a pool in Somerset, the first drink outside Soho after the first Covid lockdown, a hundred Sunday roasts, I could list a thousand wonderful memories from the UK. I love this country and I always will.

MJ: Oh goodness, Bobby said that really well there. I only arrived 14 years ago and 12 and a half of those were spent with Bobby so I can't say we don't share most of those memories together, gratefully! 

It must be at the many pub visits where the true friendships, wit and conversations of the wonderful ways of being a Brit come together for me. Britain really let me embrace my personality, my colourful ways were welcomed in a multicultural city like London and I was encouraged to stand out by each and every one. For someone trying to find their way and work hard, London can really be the city of dreams and a good pint. I will miss it dearly.

Will you ever come back to the UK to work?

BH: Although it's not in our plans, I certainly can't rule it out. We want to settle in Sweden and carve careers over here, so that is our working priority, but ultimately we want to do what makes us happiest, and that is wherever it ends up being.

MJ: It certainly isn't off the table, we will go where our hearts take us, and that very much could be a future in the UK when our kids are old enough to have a say but we are done with the metropole city tempo for now. We have some fresh air to catch up on!