Save The Nelson’s

The Nelson’s (aka The Nelson’s Head and Fanny Nelsons) has been a community pub for centuries. It has changed hands a lot over the last few decades, but has always remained independent.

Even without COVID, the location of the venue makes us very dependent on the local Columbia Road flower market, something that has also been seriously hampered during 2020, and another location full of independent businesses struggling with the ever changing climate.

We have attempted both delivery and takeaway trade, however these are not the normal strategies for a primarily wet-trade pub. To keep up with the ever changing government rules, we’ve also had to renovate our kitchen to launch food at all times (previously just focusing on making an awesome Sunday roast!).

Even with the apparent end in sight for this virus, our deposit has been exhausted. The government support we have received barely touched the sides for the total amount of months we have lost trade, not to mention the additional staffing requirements when open, and the additional amount of expiring stock.

Right now we are still here and we are confident we are going to endure through this. Sadly if trade began as normal right now, the restrictions brought on by the tier system really reduces the income we bring in, and compulsory meals make it even harder to get customers in outside of meal times.

While we don’t like to beg, any donations we receive will make sure The Nelson’s stays open for a long time after all of this epidemic is behind us. Most of our staff are on furlough while closed, any available shifts are being given to independent bartenders who would normally be invoicing for back to back events at this time of year.

The primary use for the donations will be to cover the missing rent, it is the largest chunk to sort out by a long shot. We are fortunate to have a landlord who isn’t hounding us for money, however it doesn’t stop the debt rising and each passing month makes it seem harder to be able to pay back.

We’ve seen some crowdfunders offer money off for future endeavours, but I see that causing problems later on. If you would like to support us in that way, I would suggest just checking out to see if we are open. The best support is genuinely trade, so come in and buy a few extra drinks while you’re here! 

Besides that any support really helps, especially to cover all of the closure we have endured throughout.