Hi Folk Here is a link to the Sea-Shanty-text-Chat on the Discord Server: ( https://discord.gg/FWkqwCD )

Best thing about being small, independent and local = all of our friends . I'm not sure how to explain how great it is to be supported by other local and/or independent business; as a 'craft beer' pub we are amazingly luck to have loads of connections with some of the country's best breweries and suppliers. The modern craft beer world has a lot of problems but one of its amazing strengths is the way that people connect and support each other both in the events they host but also in the way beer is distributed and the way knowledge is shared. In a time of Pandemic where normal production and supply are shifted and everyone is trying to adjust it would be easy to imagine that as breweries shift to online supply pubs and wholesalers are simply cut out but it is also true that more people recognise that there are places for them and ways that we need to make space for pubs etc within our society. As businesses scrabble to develop the sort of online presence that allows them to keep going some places are making an effort to remind people about their neighbours and the people who have made a difference. For the Tap that is the neighbours who have consistently promoted us like Deadlock and Indie Rdg, the Pop-Up collaborations like Maya's refillables, Wolseley St bakery & Geo-Cafe, the breweries that have taken chances on us like SVB (& Elusive, Double-Barrelled, Siren, Wild Weather & West Berks), the wholesalers who have gone the extra mile like Best Cask, Forest, Cave & Pigs Ear and fellow publicans-in-arms Nags, Fox, Alehouse etc...

Message from Reading Libraries: We hope you are all keeping well.  We are launching a new online Reading Libraries book group called "Reading's Reading" on Facebook.   Please follow the link to join the Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2617853965165006/ .   We thought this would be a lovely way to escape, get together and do something we all love which is reading. So put on the kettle on grab a cup and cozy up with a new audiobook every fortnight.  The first listen will be The Great Gatsby, one of the World Book Night ti tles for 2020. The books will be available through Borrowbox, our new e-lending resource.  The chosen books are instant access so there is no waiting time on them.  To download the app,  head over to your app store, download BorrowBox, select Reading Libraries and sign in with your library barcode number and PIN.   Alternatively, to listen on desktop find Borrowbox on our website www.reading.gov.uk/elibrary .  If you aren't a member of Reading Libraries or maybe you know someone who would like to take part but isn't a member, you can join the library online here  https://www.reading.gov.uk/libraries  and get started on all our lovely eResources straight away. We will be adding more instant access titles over the next few weeks, so keep checking in with Borrowbox