3rd June 2020

We will leave ‘no pebble unturned’

As the country begins to tentatively emerge from lockdown, I want to firstly reassure our customers and staff that we will ‘leave no pebble unturned’ in our pursuit of creating clean, socially distanced, low physical touch, safe environments for you. Our overriding aim is safety first for all when visiting Adnams establishments. There will be the usual warm Adnams welcome when you visit although some things will be different for a time. It is our intention, on a phased basis, to open our shops this week and managed pubs and hotels and many of our tenanted pubs in early July. The only caveat to this timetable is Government and Public Health England guidance which we will always follow.

Our shops

We have 13 stores throughout East Anglia and we will begin opening this week. They will open with more flexible hours, dependent upon location, on Tuesday’s through to Saturday’s and I can assure you the teams are very much looking forward to welcoming you back. You will notice some changes in store, these are all designed to ensure that we are doing everything possible to create the right environment to safeguard you and our teams. We have invested significantly in training, equipment, new signage and created new ways of working to demonstrate our absolute commitment to your safety.

To find out when your local store is opening please click here.

Our pubs

Adnams works for the long-term and we need to look beyond the immediate crisis to the future. Following an initial cancelling of rents for three months we have offered a gentle return for tenants to begin paying rent. This remains flexible as we all begin to understand the operating environment pubs will emerge into and we want to give our pubs the very best chance to not only emerge but to thrive on the other side of Covid-19. I was delighted to host a video conference this week which was attended by almost 100% of our tenants. Tenants really are part of the extended Adnams family and never more has it been important to support pubs through this unprecedented crisis.

More than half of the pubs in our estate have continued to support their communities actively throughout the pandemic in many different ways. An example is The Ferry Inn, Stokesby, who have opened a thriving shop with Alison and the team there delivering essential groceries as well as raising monies for charity. This is just one example where the people who operate our pubs are innovating and doing all they can to support their communities.

Adnams Community Heroes

Thank you to those who have taken the time to nominate those people who are making a difference in their communities. We have had more than 150 nominations and have now contacted those who have been awarded Adnams Community Hero. It has been heartening and inspiring to read them and there is so much good going on in the midst of all of this. We want to recognise those people who are selflessly dedicating their time and effort to help others. We look forward to sharing the news of our chosen heroes through our social media channels. They will be gifted a stay at The Swan, The White Horse and The Cross Keys as our way of saying thank you from all of us. This is something that I think we feel we should continue with and we are looking to work with other partners to recognise those who are doing so much.

Thank you

As we begin the process of re-opening I personally wanted to thank you for your support and understanding. As an independent family business, it makes a huge difference to us and is a source of continuing inspiration to our teams. Finally, I would also like to thank the Adnams team who have been working tirelessly to ensure that we continue to be the best we can be.

Please take care, stay safe and remain well.

Very, best wishes,

Andy