Support the Pub & People behind The Queen's Head

Hey friends,

Apologies for the longer gap than anticipated between closing our Crowdfunder campaign and now. We've been meaning to update you, having successfully completed the campaign, but the Government announcements each week have left us with the rug pulled out from under our feet! We've had to rethink and rehash our options at every turn. However, this week looks a little more promising (without further immediate restrictions for London) meaning we can take the time to stop and think more clearly and voice where we are at.

Firstly, a massive thanks for your support. We will not be able to say this louder or clearer or more whole-heartedly. THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH! We have raised a really helpful amount of £10,519 with 148 supporters in 77 days, including £4000 Match Funding from the Mayor Of London. Being completely honest here, at the start of this campaign, we were hopeful for £5000 raised in a few weeks. That would get us through the wastage and the restocking that we anticipated a short period of lockdown would require. As the crowdfunder end date drew closer, we could see that the pub was still some way off being able to reopen. We took the decision to extend the campaign to get us in a position to be able to stay closed a little longer to then be able to viably reopen. 

You guys met our needs and supported us so that we could gain further support beyond our target figure, which touched us and also spurred us on. We are so very grateful to have had you following our story, cheering us on through your comments, thoughts and generous support. Approximately £6300 of our funding has come from donations. The rest has been Pay It Forward pledges. Either way, we're incredibly blown away with the kindness and magnanimity of your actions. You have been so great and it has made us miss having you all down the pub even more! 

The road to get to this point has been super rocky, and as a business we have hit an all-time low. We've not wanted to scare or distress anyone by announcing how hard it has been, but we always intended to be genuine and open. Your support does and will count for something. We also do not wish to hide the reality of our situation. We won't go into all the detail here, but we will point you in the direction of an Open Letter that we, Simon The Tanner and Mother Kelly's (our fellow siblings) have written to our Government. Please see that document here.  In a nutshell, it details that as a business, we're taking less than 30% revenue across our open sites (just 3 out of the usual 7), one of our bottle shop venues have closed down for good, and without a reasonable extension of the furlough scheme, we've had to make a number of our exceptional staff redundant since the venues are not able to open. Losing two thirds of the people who have seen us through to this point, is a feeling we hope to never have to experience again. Our hearts and support go out to those team members, who would still be here with us had this pandemic never hit.

We now have the funds in our bank to mollify our lost revenue, but we are taking our next steps with caution. We cannot rush into reopening, only to haemorrhage the funds raised and then have to close for good. In an ideal world, we will get to the point of reopening securely sooner rather than later, and get our team back into their venues. The recent restrictions by the Government have dictated a very difficult dynamic for which we are to operate: reduced hours and closing by 10pm so we miss out on key, late-night trade, only households allowed indoors within groups of six and table service only (which doubles our payroll expenses). Our pub is a lovely one but a small one. We won't be able to host more than 35 people in the pub at any one time, safely and legally. To expect us to staff at least 2 people to cover this trade, in the face of further restrictions and Government warnings to minimise contact, is simply not possible or viable. That's not even adding the consideration of our rent, without relief for the past 7 months! It's in our best interests to hold tight and wait until it is safe to reopen with more of a chance of "regular custom".

It leaves us with the best possible outcome of a sorry situation. We hope you can understand we're unhappy to be in this position of keeping you waiting, but also thankful that we have the fortune to be able to hold out a little longer. We will continue to work towards our reopening; which is very much on the cards. But only time will tell when that will be. At least we can get those cogs whirring and make sure we are able to welcome you back, with full force, as safely and as soon as we're realistically able to do so. 

Love and many thanks again,

x TQH x