Brewery Market's 'Pledge for Craft Beer'

Aim

Drink Stout to Help Out! We hope to raise money to keep our bottle shop open and provide exciting diverse craft beer to the community :)

 Drink Stout to Help Out.

Our vision for Brewery Market is simple: to encourage people to #DrinkDifferently and experience the diversity that craft beer has to offer.  Beer is no longer just about sinking pints, the beers that we showcase are of the highest quality, measured not only by the calibre of the breweries we stock, but by our customers' perception of value received for money paid.  We keep our margins low, as we believe craft beer should not be a luxury.  That does mean in the current climate we are struggling to cover our costs.  

We opened in 2018, and we have built a reputation for quality beer and events in a comfortable and welcoming setting. We have a team of 3 employees, all of whom bring their passion and expertise to making sure that customers have the best experience possible. In that short time we have already become a part of the local community, participating in events along Church Street, and we have been fortunate to receive recognition on a wider scale – we are currently shortlisted for the Drinks Retailing Awards 2021.

We have held tastings and launches with national and international brewers, and have firmly established ourselves in the London craft beer scene.

Our space is designed to encourage socialising and sharing

....something that, for the time-being, is being discouraged. The impact of this reduced capacity has severely affected our sales, and this has been compounded by the requirement to implement the ever-changing rules and safety measures in order to ensure our customers' safety. Covid-19 has affected every facet of our business, from the way that we clean our beer glasses to the way that we interact with our customers, and all of this is affecting our ability to cover our costs.

Luckily, we have been able to operate with takeaway sales only to stay open, albeit under strict social distancing rules. In the early part of the pandemic we served our customers on a one in/one out basis, operating from only two fridges. More recently we have had to divide our little space up into “Covid-19 safe areas”.

While this has enabled us to keep trading, the hardest part of this situation is missing the interaction with our customers - sharing and tasting new beers, bottleshares, games nights and educational events. Having to put signs up telling people not to touch the books or games is soul destroying.

Pledge now for a future with craft beer.

Hospitality businesses like ours are facing challenges never seen before in our lifetime: buying PPE, putting up screens, following the ever-changing advice, eat out to help out and imposed curfews have all come at a great cost to small businesses like ours.

Though this situation is adverse and our ability to keep trading is unknowable for the foreseeable future, from day one of this pandemic we have advocated new offerings to be able to keep trading - we had to find safe new ways to operate that put the health of our staff and customers first:

• Delivery by the team in the mini! within ten miles of the shop and contact free
• Free local delivery within a two-mile radius
• Video calling our customers live from the fridges
• 35% discount to all key and frontline workers during lockdown
• Easy email ordering for collection or delivery, always followed up with a phone call to talk through the order 
• Growler storage for customers to get fresh home delivery of draught beer
• Assist in lobbying to get church street pedestrianised 
• Vegware eco cups for takeaway drinks during the summer 
• Hiring the shop privately to keyworker/high risk groups with no minimum spend
• No expiry for gift vouchers bought during the lockdown 
• ...and more recently getting gazebos for dry seating areas outside!

We upheld our values throughout this pandemic, and we continue to invest in new ways to get this message out there and some of those things included:

• Virtual beer events, including quizzes and games
• Online private guided tastings with a professional beer sommelier
• Corporate beer tasting events for businesses

We hope to make it through Covid-19 so we can once again share a beer together and with your help we can get there. 

Crowdfunder are offering up their platform to allow all UK small businesses to pre-sell their meals, events, hotel bookings etc. for cash now on a promise to redeem these at a later date.  The Mayor of London is offering 100% free fundraising to help businesses like us raise vital funds to stay afloat, rebuild and recover from Covid-19.  The Mayor’s £1m Back to Business Fund offers up to £5,000 in match funding to small and independent businesses through the Pay It Forward London crowdfunding platform.  It is that match funding that we are asking for your help to access.  Help us now and buy beer. 

How will we use the money?

• To cover the fees to get on the Deliveroo App to expand our local delivery network
• To launch our online craft beer shop with free UK delivery for all customers 
• For heating and lights for the gazebos for protection in the winter months 
• Updating our cleaning equipment for the shop to make sure that it remains a safe environment for staff and customers
• Better and more comfortable PPE for the staff to wear all day

And beyond that.....

• Quite simply we’re going to keep buying more exciting and diverse beer for you 

 If we meet our stretch goal?

• We’re going to put more into improving the web shop to make it quicker and easier for you to check stock, click ‘n’ collect and get better beer delivered to you at home: https://goodeats.io/brewerymarkettwickenham 

We now face a point where the hospitality industry is subject to even more restrictions and despite having come this far, the uphill battle has just got steeper.

Our heart and support go out to all our friends in the industry and other businesses in this tough time.

We are so grateful for any donations you are able to make to help keep Brewery Market open. It could be just the price of a couple of your favourite beers, every little helps! 

Please share this Crowdfunder page with the world and help us to welcome you back with full force, full consideration of your safety, and with the wholehearted love we have for our beer community and friends. 

This project successfully funded on 21st December 2020