I visited Hogs Back Brewery tap room and it was the best Friday night I ve had in months - Laura Nightingale getsurrey.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from getsurrey.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Inside Surrey s pubs, theatres and restaurants as they reopen - live updates
Hotels, indoor exercise classes and children s play areas can welcome people back too
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It s been a long time coming but we are finally allowed to eat and drink indoors, go the the cinema, take our children to soft play - and have a cuddle.
Surrey s pubs and restaurants can invite people inside for the first time in months while other indoor venues like theatres and cinemas are permitted to open.
SurreyLive will be out and about on Thursday, bringing you updates from the county s towns and villages as lockdown eases, and sharing the stories of businesses that have battled through the struggles of the last few months.
Hogs Back Brewery volunteers as coronavirus vaccination drive-thru in Surrey
The Tongham venue has a large area that could be used for vaccinations during the pandemic
Hogs Back Brewery in Tongham (Image: Grahame Larter)
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As vaccination centres, farm shops and fashion outlets, pubs get creative in their fight to survive
With no end in sight for lockdown, pubs are diversifying to stay afloat and supporting suppliers and customers as they do so
12 January 2021 • 3:00pm
Drinkers at the Hogs Back Hangar taproom before the lockdown; its owner wants the site to be used as a vaccination centre
When thousands of pubs up and down the country were first forced to close due to the pandemic, in March last year, many publicans decided to turn their boozers into takeaways, drive-throughs or even bakeries (while cooking free meals for key workers or the homeless). This kept staff in work, provided the businesses some income, and offered a vital community service. Few could have imagined that, 10 months on, they would be in the same position.
Hogs Back Brewery has joined the likes of BrewDog, Oakman Inns and Loungers in offering the UK s vaccination effort a shot in the arm by suggesting that the NHS use its facilities to store and distribute Covid-19 jabs.
The Surrey-based beermaker, which has been brewing since 1992 and supplies pubs from Stonegate, Mitchells & Butlers and JD Wetherspoon, has offered its Hop Hangar as a drive-through vaccination facility.
The brewer has proposed to open large doors at either end of its hangar in Tongham, Surrey, for vaccine recipients to drive through with medical staff and chilled vaccines to be housed in its adjacent tap room bar.