Firstly we have some miserable news to report. Our good friend and Bar Manager at Reigate, Jasper, has sadly been diagnosed with cancer and requires immediate treatment. Thankfully the cancer has been caught early and doctors are very hopeful that Jasper can beat it with the treatment plan they have set out. Unfortunately this will require many months of chemotherapy and rehabilitation so Jasper is returning to Bristol to stay with family whilst he gets better. 2023 will be earliest we will see Jasper’s smiling face behind the bar again, something that still hasn’t quite sunk in and has left the whole team devastated.

In true Jasper spirit he is, all being well, planning to work his final shift this Saturday before setting off to Bristol next week to do battle. Please pop by if you are in town and would like to take the opportunity to wish him well. As all regulars to the bar will know Jasper is a fantastic person, a phenomenal host and will be a huge loss to the Hop Stop family.

Get well soon mate and we can’t wait to have you back for the party of all time… heads up there is no need to work that night!

Ruth and I have been doing some soul-searching over the last couple of days since the news and have decided to change things up a little to concentrate on the areas of the business we want to develop and to make things a little more manageable for us as we rebuild from the multitude of blows over the last two years. 

As most of you are aware there are many facets to the Hop Stop business with the bar being just one element. This, coupled with being parents to two very young boys, prevents us from simply covering the entirety of Jasper’s hours.  A replacement may exist out there but they will take time to find and train to be able to deliver the high standards that Jasper gave every week.

With all of this in mind here are the changes:

On all days, starting immediately, we will be closing from 9pm.  Last orders will be called at 8:45pm.  Hopefully this still provides plenty of time to come down to enjoy a few beers or to grab some takeaway cans, bottles or draught beer. This will allow us to continue to run the bar in the evening but also to get sufficient sleep in before the parental alarm clock chimes and the day starts again. I can’t understand for the life of me why toddlers don’t respect that you finally switched off at 1am and it’s imperative you get up before 7am!

So here are the hours for Reigate going forward:

Wednesday:  Coming Soon
Thursday:  5pm – 9pm
Friday:  5pm – 9pm
Saturday:  2pm – 9pm
Sunday:  Possibly later in the year

As soon as we find a replacement we will extend these hours out to Wednesday and might consider a Sunday pint window too if enough people are interested.

As we transition away from our late night ‘wine bar’ appearance to our early evening ‘beer café’ vibe we will endeavour to keep everything under constant review. Our ultimate aim is to keep the good beer flowing and to finally get some beer focused events underway… our idea list is extensive and very exciting!

I hope all of the above is understandable. If not please don’t hesitate to hit reply to this email and I can answer any questions.

Lots of love to Jasper and see you all soon.

Cheers,

James and Ruth