Emergency Support Fund

We hadn't thought of doing this until many of our amazing supporters online suggested it so here it goes. Our business OFFBEET has recently been evicted from our beautiful restaurant in the New Forest.

We put everything we had into renovation, kitting out and setting up this venue. The last few years have been tough with issues hitting the hospitality sector including COVID, staffing crisis, energy costs, cost of living. We worked tirelessly and sacrificed so much to keep our heads above water and keep afloat through all these difficulties.

We were excited to move forward into the summer months. But we couldn't have been more wrong. Sadly we have been evicted in the worst possible way after the landlord found a legal loophole and evicted us within 24hrs losing our Cookery school and restaurant and everything in it, just like that. This could not have been a more heartbreaking blow and we have lost so much.

However, the people worst hit in this crisis are the staff who worked tirelessly for us over the two years. Some of them are in very vulnerable situations and have been left jobless overnight.

Because we weren't given notice we had placed big orders right up until the day before we closed. We want to make sure our local suppliers have not gone out of pocket, some of whom are also small independents who still support us and have lost our custom affecting their livelihood.

We now have customers left with vouchers, cookery lessons and tasting menu deposits which we will need to refund.

And finally, our family and friends who have jumped to the rescue and helped with legal fees and funding required to refund vouchers, cookery lessons and tasting menu deposits. All of which wouldn't have been a problem if the landlords had given the decency of SOME notice at all. Considering they had been planning our replacement and eviction behind our backs for quite some time.

We have set this fund up to give them a little support during this extremely difficult and untimely transition. A little goes a long way and all funds will be distributed to the above and not OFFBEET.