HOP TO IT

PUT ON YOURbeer GOGGLES AT FUGGLES - IT’S JUST A HOP AWAY!

GROSVENOR ROAD

FUGGLES BEERCAFE .CO.UK

Fuggles Beer Café, as the name would suggest, specialises in craft beers, with a side-line in sustainable and organic wines, whisky and gin, and other spirits and soft drinks. Since its inception in 2013, Fuggles has become a staple local independent pub for locals and visitors alike, sourcing the best and most unique drinks that the UK and beyond has to offer.

“I’m Alex and I run Fuggles Beer Café and Bottle Shop. We’ve been operating from Grosvenor Road in Tunbridge Wells since 2013 and in Tonbridge since 2017, with a new Bottle Shop on Camden Road in the mix since 2021.

It’s coming up to our 10-year anniversary in 2023, if we manage to make it there,” Alex tells us from the original Fuggles in Tunbridge Wells. “I would love to put on all the original beers that we had when we first started, but a lot of them are out of production now so it might not be completely possible!”

Named after a locally grown hop propagated by the Fuggles family in Wadhurst, Alex’s beer café brand is, in a nutshell, “a great place to come and have a great drink. We focus on sourcing and retailing fun and exciting drinks, with a good atmosphere and music to match – that’s literally it.”

Having faced an increasingly challenging retail and hospitality landscape over the last two years, Alex has had to find new ways to make his business work in an incredibly tough climate. “It’s been like opening a new business all over again after the pandemic,” he explains. “We’ve changed so much of how we used to do things. A lot of it has been good and positive, but we’ve had to look at everything that we do and how we do it to make it work in this new environment, and it’s still ongoing even now. We’re constantly thinking, ‘where can we streamline? Where can we save money?’ We’ve had to be a lot more creative.”

That creativity paid off in the form of the Fuggles Bottle Shop, born out of the online shop that Alex and his team set up during the first lockdown. “Our survival during that time was purely based on the fact that we pivoted into an online shop, and then we decided to carry it on, and that developed into the physical Bottle Shop on Camden Road last year,” he says. “It was a chance to showcase a lot of stuff that we like to do that we can’t always do within the limitations of a pub - a lot more beers, and organic, natural wines as well. We could list and sell so many more interesting and fun drinks online.”

Sustainability is playing a more important

SERVICE WITH A SMILE AT FUGGLES, GROSVENOR ROAD

role than ever in the decisions that Alex and his team are making day to day. “We’re constantly looking at eco credentials before we list a product, and it’s impacting other things that we do in the business too,” he says. “For example, the way that we garnish our drinks, what’s the most sustainable way of doing that? Right through to how we deal with waste and energy. Sustainability absolutely informs our choices in terms of who and what we stock.”

In addition to higher running costs, staffing is also an ongoing problem for many businesses. Although Tunbridge Wells is a busy, thriving town with a vibrant independent and local business community, staff recruitment and retention in service industries across the borough is a challenge. “Staffing has been fairly stable for us in recent times, but it is really challenging trying to recruit staff in hospitality, retail, any service industry.” Alex explains.

For the staff who work in Alex’s cafe and bottle shop, an interest in something that the business has to offer is a must, along with regular discussions about the products. “Training our staff is very organic – we encourage a lot of active engagement with the product, we want them to taste it and know what to recommend,” he says. “We’re constantly changing the range, so we just talk about the product a lot, with a focus on developing an understanding of the processes behind the products as well.

We do tend to employ people who already have an interest in or passion for something that we offer, because they will naturally want to sell it. We do staff trips to suppliers and really get people into it.”

Despite the ongoing challenges facing independent businesses, Alex maintains that the people are what make Royal Tunbridge Wells a great place to run a business. “It’s a bustling, fun town to have a business in, with a good mixture of people of all ages,” he says. “It keeps it dynamic and interesting; I never get bored doing what I do.

Moving forward into our tenth year, I think we want to achieve that longevity in the business,” Alex concludes. “A bigger focus on sustainability, finding ways to improve our processes and how we do things, championing local businesses, so that we’ll still be here in another ten years.”

To find out more and plan your visit to Fuggles Beer Café, go to: www.fugglesbeercafe.co.uk.

To order from the online Bottle Shop, visit: www.fugglesbottleshop.co.uk, or drop in on Camden Road. ■

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