Summer Bar to re-open: A Note from Rupert

Hogs Back's owner and Managing Director, Rupert Thompson announces the re-opening of the Summer Bar as part of the Great British Pub Comeback and talks about more exciting developments at the Brewery.

Dear Hogs Back followers,

Firstly, thank you very much to all those who have supported us by continuing to buy our beer at the Drive Thru or online. This has been very motivating for all of us here at the brewery – it was looking a bit grim on the 20^th March when we lost 75% of our business overnight, but our sales through the shop and online have grown and with support from the Government we are in good shape for post-lockdown.

We are expecting it will take some time for the pubs to rebuild their businesses and, sadly, some will not make it. We are encouraging everyone to support their local pubs, and of course their local brewer with our line Support your Local – go Tea Total – the coronavirus crisis has demonstrated just how important a vibrant local economy is.

Now that we have a date and guidelines for pub opening we can plan for the future. We will continue the Drive Thru throughout the summer and make our extensive collection of craft & international beers more easily available. We are also going to extend our home delivery service and add more beers, and have exciting plans to offer a new, environmentally friendly way of serving brewery fresh beer direct to local customers homes – more news on this and development of the Tongham Tea Club to follow.

With the Great British Pub Comeback set for Saturday 4^th July we will be re-opening our Summer Bar that evening, setting up 40 tables overlooking the hop garden and in our new hop picking hall (a former small aircraft hanger) and will be serving beer direct to pre-booked tables from 6pm through to 10pm. Tongham Tea Club members will get the first opportunity to book a ‘family bubble’ table with remaining tables being made available for general reservation afterwards.

We will then be opening our canopy bar from Thursday 9^th July, also on a pre-booked basis to start with, and it will be open 6-10 on Thursday, Friday and Saturday and 4.30 to 8.30 on Sundays. Safety and social responsibility for our staff and our customers is at the forefront of our plans and we will be communicating more detailed guidance for opening the bar in the next week.

The additional exciting news is that we are also opening the Old Kiln as a bar – work is under way at present and we hope to have it opened towards the end of July…updates to follow. We decided not to build the second and third floor at present due to the huge cost and current uncertainty, and so the kiln is being temporarily housed in the hanger, but we are looking at a different plan which may allow us to build up from the base of the old kiln in the next couple of years.

Again, thank you for your much appreciated support and please join us again soon for a pint or two of delicious brewery-fresh beers.

How to reserve your table

Bookings will be taken through table reservations with pre-payment for a 3.5 pint flagon of brewery fresh beer, which you can choose your preference when you arrive. Tables are for 2 to 6 people who will come from within the same household or social bubble. Pre-booking is required, bar walk-ups cannot be permitted at this time.

Tongham TEA Club members will be given the first chance to book for our opening night and will receive a separate email shortly with a booking link.

If we haven't reached booking capacity on the event by Monday 29th June we will open up the remaining tables for general booking. If we are sold out for this event, bookings will open next week for table reservations from Thursday 9th July.