HOP AND RYE Club of Wainscott

DOVER KENT ARCHIVES

Page Updated:- Tuesday, 28 September, 2021.

PUB LIST

PUBLIC HOUSES

Paul Skelton

1 Dec 2019

(Name from)

Hop and Rye

Dec 2020

(Name to)

1 Hollywood Lane / Wainscott Road

Wainscott

https://whatpub.com/hop-rye

Above photo 2019.

Above photo showing one of the bars, 2019.

Above photo showing the other bar 2019.

Above sign 2019.

The building was originally used by the "Wainscott Institute" but this closed in 2014 and the building was turned into a Co-op. However, on the 1st December 2019, the back part of the building was opened as a micro pub with two bars. The sign now hanging was actually recycled from the now closed "Hop and Rye" in Bromley.

During the Covid 19 pandemic the premises was able to stay open offering take away beer service at weekends.

From a local paper, Thursday, 21 November 2019.

Friends set to open new micropub.

Ian Wilson and Mark Green* field are opening a micropub. Picture: Sean Aidan.

A new micropub which owners hope will restore a sense of community, will open this month.

The Hop and Rye in Wainscott Road, Wainscott, has been a joint venture for life-long friends Mark Greenfield and Ian Wilson.

After three months of organising and building works, the old working men's club has been revamped and restored to its former glory.

The launch is on Sunday, December 1 from midday and everyone is invited.

Mr Greenfield said: "We're looking forward to bringing something back to the community and we’d like to encourage people to come along, play darts and cards.

"Just have a traditional day out to the pub."

It will sell a selection of gins from the dockyard distillery, four different ales at a time, and local ciders.

From a local paper, November 2019.

Pals set up micropub

Two lifelong friends are turning a disused working men's club into a micropub.

Mark Greenfield and Ian Wilson have taken over the Wainscott Institute in Hollywood Lane, which closed due to financial issues some five years ago.

It was split into sections and potentially sold off for flats or to the Co-op next door. But after years of waiting, Mark and Ian managed to secure a quarter of the space.

Mark, who is well known for running boot fairs in Wainscott, said: "Once the club went, people lost a sense of community, the knitting club went, you mention it, they lost it."

Now called the Hop and Rye, the venue will be open for business in mid-December stocking a selection of gins from the dockyard distillery, ales and local ciders.

Unfortunately during the pandemic in December 2020 they had their license revoked due to breaching the Covid-19 rules and had to close. However, the premises has reopened again, this time under the name the "Crafty Fox," and with a new licensee.

From the https://www.kentonline.co.uk By Katie May Nelson, local democracy reporter, 3 March 2021

New landlord vows to clean up Hop and Rye pub in Wainscott after lockdown lock-in.

The man behind a bid to take over a beleaguered micropub aims to take a no-nonsense approach towards customer management, a licensing hearing had heard.

The previous owners of the Hop and Rye in Wainscott, near Strood, lost their licence after Medway Council discovered one of the previous co-owners was ignoring Covid-19 restrictions by letting people have lock-ins.

As a result, the council revoked the micropub's premises licence.

Prospective licensee Robert Strudwick - who runs the "Kings Arms" in Upnor - told a meeting of Medway Council's Licensing Hearing Panel yesterday he wants to create a "family friendly environment", which would include removing the offer of discounted drinks.

Robert Strudwick wants to reopen the Hop and Rye in Wainscott.

He said he believed the availability of these drinks created problems at the pub and attracted a crowd who were "no longer welcome".

He said: "The expression was used that it had become the 'Weatherspoon of Wainscott'.

"I very much want to get away from that image by promoting real ales, international craft beers and the like."

Licensing officers found six people drinking at the back of the premises during a visit on Friday, November 27 last year.

Following further inquiries, the pub was found to have held at least five lock-ins since Thursday, November 5.

Residents living by the premises opposed the award of a fresh licence, raising concerns about the level of noise coming from the pub's garden and managing parking.

One resident asked Mr Strudwick how customers who may have caused issues in the past would be discouraged from returning.

He replied: "I can tell you one of the previous owners is already barred. The other, being as good as gold, is most welcome"

Owners Ian Wilson and Mark Greenfield, pictured before the pub opened in 2019. Picture: Sean Aidan.

Referring to the old customer base, he said: "There won't be anything there for them; they want cheap lager, a pool table, the little den out the back.

"They're gone and they know they're gone."

LICENSEE LIST

WILLSON Ian & GREENFIELD Mark 1/Dec/2019-Dec/2020

If anyone should have any further information, or indeed any pictures or photographs of the above licensed premises, please email:-

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