A Beer Hall, A Bit of Sport, A Bit of Music and A Lot of Planning.

If you have walked past The Corn Store recently you might have noticed it is looking a little different.

That is because we have been busy, behind the painted out windows, mostly just scratching our heads and saying "how do we build that".

Over the past few months the space has been completely transformed and, in all honesty, it is now pretty much ready to go. The bar is built, the room is finished, the heating works, which feels like a real luxury after a few winters running an outdoor venue, and the whole place is sitting there waiting patiently for its moment.

All we are waiting on now is the final planning approval.

Double Doors Will be put on the yard side of the building

Once that comes through, The Corn Store will step into its new life as The Beer Hall.

The thinking behind it has always been quite simple. Coachworks has always been about the social side of things. People bumping into each other, live music drifting across the yard, friends meeting friends and evenings that somehow stretch out longer than anyone intended.

But the yard is still outside.

It is brilliant in the summer and full of life on warm evenings, but when the weather turns it reminds you fairly quickly that we live in England.

So The Beer Hall is the natural next step.

A proper indoor space. Warm, welcoming and built for people to spend time in. Somewhere you can settle in for the evening without watching the clouds roll in or wondering if you should have brought another jumper.

It has also given us the chance to do something we have wanted to do for a while, which is properly level the place up.

Over the years Coachworks has grown quickly and, like a lot of places that grow fast, sometimes you build things in the most practical way you can at the time. The Beer Hall has allowed us to step back and do things properly.

The materials alone make a huge difference. No OSB chipboard walls, which have become the slightly depressing calling card of half finished hospitality spaces everywhere. Instead the room has proper timber, proper finishes and proper wood floors under your feet. The kind of space that feels solid, warm and intentional the moment you walk in. It feels like somewhere that has been built to last rather than something thrown together in a hurry.

It is a small thing on paper but it changes the entire feel of the room. You walk in and it simply feels like somewhere you want to spend time.

The bar itself is a big step forward too. It has been designed to actually handle the scale of the venue and the kind of events we run here. When the place is busy, when a band is playing or when a big match is on, the bar will be able to cope with the flow of people without everything grinding to a halt.

It is the sort of upgrade that will make the whole place run better.

There are a few more improvements on the way as well. A brand new set of toilets will be installed shortly after we open and later in 2026 the existing ones will be refurbished and upgraded as part of the next phase of improvements across the site.

Inside The Beer Hall we have also installed multiple screens so we can show sport properly. Football, rugby and the big tournaments people actually want to watch together. We will be showing both Sky Sports and TNT Sports so whether it is Premier League football, Champions League nights or international rugby there will always be something on.

But it will not just be about sport.

Keeping Things Level

One of the nicest things about Coachworks over the years has been the live music. The bands that fill the yard on a Friday night, the spontaneous sets and the open mic evenings where someone turns up with a guitar and suddenly half the room joins in.

The Beer Hall means we can keep doing all of that even when the weather is doing its worst.

Bands playing while the rain taps on the roof outside. People inside with drinks listening to something great without worrying about whether the next shower is about to end the night early.

And then there are those quieter winter evenings. A cold Sunday, dark early, and someone starts an open mic. A few people drift in, someone plays a song, someone else tries something new and suddenly the room has that warm, relaxed buzz that only live music seems to create.

Food will work in exactly the same way it does across the yard. You can grab something from one of the vendors and bring it straight into The Beer Hall. Burgers, tacos or momos, depending on what takes your fancy. Or if you are anything like us you will end up with a bit of everything and treat the whole thing like street food tapas.

Drinks are where things get particularly interesting.

Anyone who knows us will know we have a bit of a fascination with German lager and that is going to continue here. In fact the range is only getting bigger. Expect a deeper selection of proper German lagers alongside the rest of our draught offer.

We are also bringing back something that has a bit of history here. Before taking on Coachworks I used to run a bottle shop on site and that idea is returning as part of the new bar. Two huge fridges packed with interesting beers, the kind of bottles you do not often see in a standard pub fridge. It gives us the chance to keep things rotating and bring in beers that people might not otherwise stumble across.

Alongside that there will be guest beers coming and going and a wine list that we have been putting a lot of thought into. One thing we are particularly proud of is the Kentish wine list we are putting together. There are some brilliant producers in the county and it feels right that they have a proper place on the menu here.

The cocktail list has had a rethink as well. The range is wider now and a bit more playful, giving people a few more options when they fancy something beyond beer or wine.

Time For Reflection

Elsewhere on the site things stay very much the same. Upstairs at Coachworks will continue as our private hire space, hosting parties, celebrations and all the slightly chaotic good times that come with them.

Later this year The Hothouse will also be getting a bit of a spring put back in its step with some improvements planned to freshen the space up and give it a new lease of life.

The slightly surreal part of all of this is that the room itself is already there.

The bar is in.The space is finished.The heating is on.

We are simply waiting for the final green light so we can open the doors properly

And when that moment comes The Beer Hall should become exactly what we hoped it would be. A warm, lively, year round social space right in the middle of town.

Somewhere to watch the match.

Somewhere to see a band even when it is raining outside.

Somewhere to wander into an open mic on a cold Sunday evening.

Somewhere to sit with friends, a drink in hand and a table full of burgers, tacos and momos.

Somewhere to be. 🍻

Big Love, Big Steve