Thank you and temporary goodbye from The Smugglers

A personal message from Suzy, Guy and The Smugglers team:

A sad day for us.

We would like to say a massive thank you to everyone who came to collect the free beer yesterday. The Smugglers Inn and our sister pub in the New Forest have raised £1,185 for Oakhaven Hospice. 

It was a very humbling and emotional experience to see how generous everyone was, and very moving having to say goodbye to our loyal customers. 

It was equally amazing to see how creative people can be when they need to fill up with beer - we had vases, water jugs, and people tipping their water away to fill up with beer. 

We also managed to give away all of our soup! - and we had lots of NHS & key workers visit us and make use of our FREE meal offer. It was great to be able to give them a nice Sunday roast after all their hard work. 

Whilst we have really enjoyed offering our takeaway service, we now need to think of the welfare of our staff and we have made the very difficult decision to cease all trading until further notice. 

We will spend the next day or so ensuring the pubs are cleaned down, all stock removed and left in a position that we can be ready to start up again as soon as it is clear to do so. 

At both of our pubs, we have some vulnerable customers, that we will keep in touch with and ensure they have what they need. 

So it's not goodbye, it's see you later....please stay safe, and look after each other, and we look forward to the time when we can welcome you all back, with what will be open arms and a smile on our faces. 

Suzy, Guy and the Smugglers team