White Swan

🌸 Sip into summer with our newest addition: Whispering Angel Rosé!

🍷 Delicate notes of strawberries and citrus dance on your palate, delivering the perfect balance of sweetness and acidity.

You asked, and we listened - now available for your sipping pleasure!

About last week...

Take a look at what's been happening at our fantastic pub recently. From private hires to exciting in-house promotions, including the well-deserved recognition of Chelsea as our new Assistant Manager. There's been nothing but good vibes around here. Be sure to drop by and congratulate Chelsea in person! And if you haven't already, check out our Instagram () for regular updates on all things White Swan.

With sunny days and clear blue skies on the horizon this week, we're eagerly anticipating the good times that lie ahead.

Now, let's dive into some testimonials from last week:

"Great pub and atmosphere! Alyce and Chelsea are amazing, always kind and smiling. The best place for a pint after work with my colleagues :)"

"Chelsea was a great bar attendant she even knew what we wanted. Thanks so much for making it a good night !"

"Spent an afternoon here, Guinness is the best I’ve had out of Ireland nice!!!! All in all a great pub, bar staff were friendly and Alice the manager looks after her guest"

"Good solid old school boozer"

"For my first visit to London, I traveled about the city and visited a dozen or so pubs for a pint. This is the one I fell in love with and continued to come back. The atmosphere is inviting and home-like. Good beer selection and an amazing music playlist that really adds to the friendliness. The icing on the cake was meeting three English gentlemen that welcomed me with great conversation and an unforgettable experience. John, Grant, and Collin, if you see this, know that you helped make my visit remarkable. Thank you!"

Meet Smudge, our favorite furry customer 🐾 she brightens up our Saturdays with her cheeky charm and love for rosé! 🍷 Who else has a pet with impeccable taste?

Pouring love on tap this Valentine’s Day! Join us at The White Swan for a brew-tiful celebration. Cheers to good company and great vibes!

🌹🍷❤️

Thursday’s line up 🍻

The White Swan is getting ready to celebrate the Lord Mayor’s Show this Saturday!

Join us to raise a glass of specially commissioned Shepherd Neame Drake & Morgan Procession Lager, and share a toast to this historical event with us

See you then! 🍻

www.whiteswanaldgate.co.uk

Due to the Government’s Tier 2 lockdown restrictions, from Saturday you can only sit inside the pub with people from your household or support bubble at those sites. There will be a maximum table size of six.

To read our FAQs around the restrictions, please go to www.snea.me/guidelines

We hope to see you soon!

Welcome back!
We are open!
Come on in, we’ve missed you! 💙

Just one more day to go before we open TOMORROW!

Walk-ins are welcome for drinks, or please call us to reserve a table!

See you soon! 💙

We are pleased to let you know that bookings for September 16 are open! You are welcome to arrive without a booking, though please be aware there may be a wait until a table is available. Should you wish to book, please call us on 02077 020448. In line with Government guidance there is a new style of service in operation meaning we will ask you to be seated, while still offering our great customer service.

As we prepare for our reopening, we are working hard to make our pub welcoming and safe for you and our team. This means we may not be able to respond as quickly as normal, so please be patient with us! If you need to leave a voicemail, please include your name, phone number, date and time you would like to book for, and party size.

Please note we are not able to accept bookings via social media at this point.

We have produced a guidelines page with FAQs, so you can plan your visit to our pubs, which you will find here. https://snea.me/guidelines

We look forward to welcoming you soon!

Following the release of the government guidelines on reopening pubs earlier this week, we are busy working on our plan to reopen safely.

As soon as we have a date set, we will let you know. We can’t wait to see you all again soon.

In the meantime, keep up with the latest updates by following Shepherd Neame.

An announcement from our CEO:

Dear Friends of Shepherd Neame,

Firstly, I would like to once again offer my sincere thanks for your continued support in these challenging times.

It has been almost two months since the Government decision to close all pubs, and I have been incredibly impressed by the way in which our team members have adapted and worked collectively to support the national effort during that time. I have also been personally inspired by your messages of support.

I am extremely grateful to all those members of staff continuing to work at this time, particularly our dedicated production team, who have been brewing beer in a ‘Covid secure’ environment to maintain sales to supermarkets and our export customers whilst ensuring their personal safety.

As a business, we have also undertaken numerous initiatives to support the local community, including:

• Producing a ‘clean beer’ for use by the Copper Rivet Distillery at Chatham Maritime to create hand sanitiser for emergency services staff

• Donating surplus fresh food from our managed estate to local food banks

• Reopening our online shop, donating £1 to the Kent NHS Community Heroes charity for every case of beer, wine or cider ordered until the end of May

• Teaming up with Kent Cricket to support The Rainbow Run, a sponsored run to raise funds for Kent-based hospitals’ Covid-19 appeals

• Donating 200 Spitfire mini kegs to Macknade Farm Shop in Faversham to sell for charity, raising £1,000 for our Charity of the Year RBLI and £1,000 for Pilgrims Hospices

• Supporting the RBLI’s VE celebrations with a donation of Spitfire beer and a specially-commissioned Spitfire cake, created by a Dargate-based artist

• Supporting local hop growers with a bumper order for Kentish hops

I would also like to express my admiration for those licensees in the tenanted pub estate who have demonstrated great ingenuity and dedication to their community by diversifying their business with the launch of takeaway and delivery services, not only for meals but essential grocery items such as bread, milk and fresh vegetables.

In addition to our community efforts, we have continued to promote our portfolio, launching New Dawn Citrus IPA in a 500ml bottle last week. Originally unveiled last May as part of our Cask Club contemporary cask ale initiative, bottled New Dawn Citrus IPA has now been listed in 241 Tesco stores nationwide and is available in our online shop.

We now know that it is going to be a long road back to ‘normality’. The Prime Minister’s announcement on Sunday, May 10 left many unanswered questions but the detailed guidance [https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/our-plan-to-rebuild-the-uk-governments-covid-19-recovery-strategy] has given us a glimmer of hope that some pubs will be able to reopen from July 4 should the circumstances allow.

To be the first in and last out of lockdown obviously poses significant financial challenges for our customers and team members, and for the business. We warmly welcomed the Government’s support on business rates relief, business grants and the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) furlough scheme. We are also pleased to note the extension of this scheme through to October as announced yesterday (May 12) by the Chancellor Rishi Sunak, but we still need further detail on exactly how much support there will be for businesses during this period. Those on furlough remain so for now, and other measures announced at that time, including the pay reduction for senior members of the team and the rent cancellation for our licensees, also remain in place.

I am continuing to lobby the Government on behalf of our industry, and have been undertaking regular interviews to support this with a variety of national, local and broadcast media.

It is our fervent desire to be able to reopen our pubs and all parts of our business as soon as the situation allows, and it is appropriate to do so. Our senior team have well-developed plans to ensure we are ready to resume normal activity.

Whilst it may be alien to many of us to reopen pubs with social distancing measures in place, I have no doubt that with the flair, creativity and ingenuity that our trade is famed for, we can still provide an authentic and engaging pub experience. Previous generations adapted to extreme challenges and so can we.

We are in the business of bringing people together, not keeping them apart; it is human nature to socialise. We look forward to welcoming people back to our wonderful pubs.

Finally, I have been overwhelmed by some fantastic messages of encouragement from members of the public. I would like to thank everyone who got in touch, and assure you that we are doing everything in our power to protect our Company for the future.

Stay safe; Stay connected; Believe in a bright future.

With my thanks and very best wishes,

Jonathan Neame
Shepherd Neame Chief Executive

We are excited to announce that Shepherd Neame is teaming up with Copper Rivet Distillery, based in Chatham Maritime, to create hand sanitiser for use by our emergency services staff.

Shepherd Neame began brewing ‘clean beer’ for the initiative last Tuesday (March 24). This is at least 10% ABV and no hops will be used to ensure it is aroma and flavour-free.

The brew is being road tankered to the Copper Rivet Distillery, where it will be used as a feed stock for their distilling alcohol to create the sanitiser.

The initiative has been launched in response to widespread shortages of hand sanitiser, which has been flagged as an important tool in combating the Coronavirus.

Copper Rivet co-founder Stephen Russell said: “Our business sells Dockyard Gin and Vela Vodka to pubs, bars and restaurants, which are now all closed. In these difficult times, we wanted to use our equipment and resources to support our emergency services, while also protecting distillery jobs, so we decided to look into diverting our production to alcohol hand sanitiser. Our Head Distiller Abhi Banik has worked hard to create a formula that achieves the efficacy of the alcohol while also being kind to the hands.”

Co-founder Matthew Russell added: “We are one of only a handful of English distilleries to make our own neutral alcohol, but such is the likely demand for the sanitiser, that we approached Shepherd Neame to supply specially brewed, high strength beer in bulk to boost our supplies for the distillation process. We already have a strong relationship with the brewery as they list our products, and we wanted to work with a partner we can rely on.”

It is hoped that the first consignment of Copper Rivet’s hand sanitiser will be available by Friday (April 3). This will be initially for the emergency services and public authorities only, including a large quantity for the Met Police.

Shepherd Neame Chief Executive Jonathan Neame said: “Following the Government decision to close all pubs, our current operational focus is to continue production at the brewery to maintain sales to supermarkets. When Copper Rivet approached us about this project, we were delighted to get involved, and have now adapted our output to ensure a steady supply of alcohol for hand sanitiser. We are delighted to be able to support such a fantastic initiative to support the national effort.”

In these challenging times Shepherd Neame, along with all of our communities, owe all of our gratitude and support to the urgent, difficult work that the NHS staff are doing to help those affected by this virus.

We will be taking part in at 8pm today and we would love you to join us. The Clap for our Carers campaign is asking for as many people as possible to put their hands together in a round of applause to thank those working incredibly hard to protect us all.

As a business, we are doing our utmost to support the NHS and key workers. We will be updating you on our specific initiatives very soon.

Many of our staff are signing up to volunteer for the NHS and we would urge you all to do the same if you can. Click here for more details on how to volunteer: www.goodsamapp.org/nhs

So please, join us all today at 8pm today and make some noise out of your windows, on your balconies and in your homes to show your support for all the doctors, nurses, carers, GPs, pharmacists, other NHS staff and everyone else working so hard for us all.

We cannot thank you enough.

SHEPHERD NEAME PLEDGES TO PROTECT JOBS FOR THE LONG TERM

Dear Friends of Shepherd Neame,

We are today (Thursday, March 26) announcing a temporary change to our staffing structure and salary levels in light of the ongoing Covid-19 situation to protect jobs for the long term.

None of our people are being made redundant and all will remain employed by the Company in the hope that the teams will be reunited and able to resume their normal work on full pay as soon as possible.

The measures being taken today are as follows:
• We will be accessing the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (also known as ‘furlough’ measures), whereby the Government will pay 80% of the wages of those affected up to £30k per annum.
• On top of this, we will fund the wages of all those affected earning above £30k per annum so that they continue to receive 80% of their normal pay.
• All hourly paid staff in our pub estate will have their pay settled for March in full and paid on the normal date.
• We are requesting that around 85% of our people step aside from their current roles on a temporary basis. Approximately 1,300 people will be affected across the Managed Pub Estate and Head Office.
• For those staff that remain in active work, we will be asking the higher paid members of our team to support the collective effort by implementing a temporary salary reduction of between 10% and 15%. This follows last week’s announcement that Directors have volunteered to take a 20% reduction in salary.

These measures will be implemented in a phased approach in line with business demand, commencing on Sunday, March 29. The steps are being taken in the absence of any detailed information from the Government and apply for one month only at this stage until the end of April. They will be kept under regular review according to developments.

I am incredibly proud of our people, who have shown great spirit, great dedication to the Company and have been a great support to each other in these challenging times, as we all adapt our lives to support the national effort.

Our focus is to protect our people, our teams and the Company for the long term. To do this, we have to take the difficult decision today to ask members of our team to stand aside on a temporary basis whilst our operational focus is restricted to producing beer for the supermarkets.

As soon as the situation improves we will focus our efforts on resuming normal activity and look forward to welcoming our team members back at that time.

With my thanks and very best wishes,

Jonathan Neame
Shepherd Neame Chief Executive

Mother’s Day is always a special occasion in Shepherd Neame pubs – full of flowers, family, laughter and love.

All of our teams are disappointed that due to these difficult circumstances we will miss seeing you this year. We hope that you are feeling the love and warmth of your family and that you are connected with them in whatever way you are able to at this difficult time.

At this time, as we are all self-isolating or practising social distancing, you may be interested to know that many of our licensees are now offering their delicious food to take away. I am lucky enough to be picking up my family meal from the award-winning Compasses Inn. Check your local Shepherd Neame pub’s page to find details of who is offering this service locally to you. We will also be creating a page on our Shepherd Neame main website next week with information of all sites who are offering this take away service so do keep a look out for that.

Happy Mother's Day to everyone celebrating today, from our family to yours. We are hopeful that we will be serving you all again very soon. Perhaps comment below if you’d like to chat to a neighbour – we know our online community will be here for you.

With my very best wishes,

Jonathan Neame

A message from our Chief Executive, Jonathan Neame

Dear Friends of Shepherd Neame,

In light of the Government’s announcement today, we are temporarily closing the doors of all our 320 pubs and hotels across Kent, London and the South East tonight (Friday, March 20). We will also be temporarily closing our brewery shop at 17, Court Street, Faversham and our online shop.

This crisis has been extremely worrying for our licensees, our employees and our customers however we warmly welcome the package of measures put in place by the Chancellor this evening. Although there are still details to be understood, this appears to provide a lifeline for many businesses and we fully support the collective and national effort to defeat this virus.

Circumstances have changed but our commitment to supporting the community remains as strong as ever. Shepherd Neame has been at the heart of the community for over 300 years and our fantastic employees and licensees will continue to support the community in any way they can.

During this period of closure, we will relentlessly continue to look for ways that we can evolve the nature of our support. As an immediate action:
• Our teams will be sending food from all of our managed sites that are temporarily closed to local food banks and to support the homeless
• We are offering our hotel accommodation to the NHS to be repurposed as hospital accommodation
• We are looking at ways to enhance and evolve our online communication to our database of over 200,000 customers to ensure we encourage people to stay connected
• The brewery remains operational and producing beer – our beer will still be available through retail channels
Within our tenanted estate, many of our licensees have already adapted their offer to fulfil a different support role and providing a much needed lifeline to their local communities, for example many are already providing a take away offer and setting up local Whats App groups to support those who are self-isolating. We encourage our licensees to continue to support the national effort to combat Covid-19 in the best way that they can within their local community.

Chief Executive Jonathan Neame said: “At this stage it is impossible to know how long this unprecedented situation will last but we are working around the clock to be able to offer every support possible to our employees, licensees and our communities.

We intend to protect as many jobs as we can and support our people through this national challenge. We will be investigating the recent Government proposals and will update our teams as soon as possible.

I would like to take this opportunity personally to thank all our customers and team members for their continued support and loyalty, and hope that they and their families stay safe at this time. We look forward to serving you again as soon as we are able to.”

With my very best wishes,

Jonathan Neame
Shepherd Neame Chief Executive

A message from our Chief Executive, Jonathan Neame:

Dear Friends of Shepherd Neame,

As we face the enormous challenge of responding to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) situation, I would like to assure you that the safety of our customers and team members is our overriding priority.

Yesterday’s announcement by the Government has put the hospitality industry in a very difficult position and we are seeking urgent clarification. Pubs and clubs need an immediate cash injection to provide reassurance for licensees and their communities. We are lobbying Government hard and hope for an announcement later today.

For the time being, as many of our pubs remain open as possible but we are monitoring the situation daily, and on an individual basis.

We are providing guidance for our licensees and are considering a range of measures of support which we will review in the light of any Government announcement.

In the meantime, extensive precautionary measures are being put in place in our managed pubs to protect our staff and customers.

These include the following:

· Sourcing infra red thermometers to allow monitoring of staff
· Moving furniture to ensure adequate social distancing between customers
· Where possible, requesting contactless card payments to minimise the handling of cash by our teams
· Issuing hygiene best practice advice toolkits and supplies
· Restricting numbers
Our production facilities will continue but we will implement strict new controls. These include the following:
· Deep cleaning production areas at the beginning and end of each shift
· Providing temperature monitors for employees
· Only critical supplies will be allowed on the site and all visitors will have to undergo temperature checks and can only access site through one single point

We are vigilantly monitoring the COVID-19 situation around the clock and recognise the situation is evolving rapidly.

I would like to take this opportunity personally to thank all our customers and team members for their continued support and loyalty, and hope that they and their families stay safe at this time.

We have set up a dedicated email address to enable you to get in touch with us directly if you have any concerns: [email protected]

With my very best wishes,

Jonathan Neame
Shepherd Neame Chief Executive

Today is the perfect day for Bangers and Mash, isn't it? 🙃

Thank you to everyone who came to the karaoke last night, we all had a great time 🙃 Thanks to all our singers and dancers 😂 The next one is on the 5th of March 😆

DISCO KARAOKE NIGHT 🕺🏻💃

Free Entry, No need to pre-book, Just show up and surprise us! Let’s have some fun!!!

Dry January? Don’t worry, we’ve got you 😉 selection of soft, no and low alcohol drinks 💥

Celebrate Christmas with Us ... Book Now for Christmas ... Selection of buffets and upstairs function room available - free hire - check our website for more details ...

Are you ready for tonight?! Our Halloween Quiz 👻👻👻 starts at 6.30 pm 🥳🥳🥳

We are getting ready for Halloween and our quiz next week 🎃 👻 🎃