2024: The Year In Review

So as I sit down to write this years roundup I’m thinking; this could take some time! We’ve done an awful lot in 2024 so make sure you’re comfortable, pour yourself a glass of celebratory champagne and strap in, it’s been a ride!

We started off in January with high hopes that we were almost finished with our infrastructure changes and we were looking forward to polishing the offering and getting down to the very serious business of putting on the very best community entertainment we could muster!

Building a permanent bar in the back garden was on the very top of the tick list and I for one was absolutely raring to get started.

The growth and continuous rise in the popularity of foureighty™ has always been my driving force and with the addition of the garden bar I was looking forward to easing off the gas pedal just a little.

The creative team met in early January and we planned a whole summer season of events with some of our very good friends and outstanding local business partners plus a whole host of our very own homegrown ‘three’ events. With DPS Builders waiting in the wings to start work on the garden bar we were locked in and ready to get our teeth stuck into 2024!

Then at the end of February we received some sad news; our long term neighbours and good friends at Parry Cohen were shutting up shop for good. Richard and I had shared our business journey with him opening up in Shenfield just a year before us. Gutted to see him go but intrigued by the possibilities ahead. We shared a landlord who, in time, offered us the opportunity to take on number 78 Hutton Road.

Now I’ve never been one to shy away from a challenge however the mesmerisingly tantalising thought of finishing the garden bar and along with it the general infrastructure growth of foureighty™ was an incredibly strong one to say the least, so now I was faced with a quandary; do we politely decline and forever think what if? Or throw ourselves headlong into the hugest year of our growth to date?

Well the decision certainly was not easy but was also totally obvious. So having already pre planned and locked in our summer events schedule, we threw caution to the wind and thought sod it and bloody went for it!

The consummate professionals at DPS Builders of course rose to the challenge and together we plotted a course to set off on our journey into the unknown…

On the 27th of March we announced on instagram our expansion intentions to rapturous local support; nigh on 700 likes and 250 comments of support came flooding in on social media giving us the courage of our convictions.

On the 26th of April our latest collaboration was born with our great friends down at The Peasants Revolt Micropub in Brentwood. They took the bold decision to turn the pub into a Café for the earlier part of the day and we were more than happy to step in and supply them with our very own house roast Domino. It’s a relationship that has gone from strength to strength and I am 100% sure that Mason and Harriet will continue to thrive in their fantastic little business and we will be more than happy to support them wherever we can.

Springtime rolled around and in May we released the summer season of events to much local excitement!

The sunshine came early and we were able to use the frontage of 78 Hutton Road which helped increase our popularity and footfall. On the 30th of march we had sunshine for the Brentwood Half Marathon and had the absolute pleasure of our very first full double frontage sun terrace.

Then at the end of May a bittersweet day came upon us with the departure of our very own Leo. Without this young man I can honestly say hand on heart we would not be here today, he was instrumental from the very beginning and to this day our team are regularly asked when Leo is coming back? I think that for everyone who knows him this is easy to understand; he’s an incredibly handsome, articulate, empathic, caring, kind and selfless individual and I’ll be honest we were gutted to lose him. However, he needed to stretch his wings and he’s done just that! Godspeed number one!

Then on the weekend of the 27/28th of May we hosted a full weekend of events in conjunction with The Brentwood Art Trail. One of our favourite street artists Mr Penfold agreed to come and paint a 1997 Porsche 911 Carrera live outside the shop over the two days. After some careful encouragement from yours truly, we managed to secure the support of local classic sports car specialists Fairmont based in Hutton. Fairmont purchased and provided the car as Tim’s canvas and I’m very happy to say that the event was a resounding success. With hundreds of people attending over the two days to see Mr. Penfold in action.

Then came the BIG ONE! Over the weekend of the 28th and 29th of June we hosted the second annual craft beer festival in the garden here at foureighty™. We showed 16 different craft beers over two days with over 600 people in attendance. This was our most successful event to date and we were absolutely humbled by the amount of local support that we received. I think it’s safe to say that good fun was had by all, and we look forward to bigger and better things for The Craft Beer Festival in 2025.

The works on the expansion into number 78 continued in earnest with us finally being able to open the doors in early September.

As a team we prepared ourselves as much as we possibly could for the influx of customers but we were all completely shocked at just how popular foureighty™ has become.

With large queues becoming a regular daily occurrence we took the decision to invest heavily in new equipment in order to try to reduce queueing times. We bought a top of the range three group La Marzocco espresso machine and new and improved grinders and began to implement a table numbered ordering system.

Doing this certainly has improved service speeds but we still regularly experience large queues and sometimes wait times of up to 15 minutes.

We cannot thank you enough for your patience during these busier times.

Many people have expressed their disappointment in having to wait, but as I have said a million times before I am not prepared to compromise on quality for speed.

The way we make coffee is meticulous, everything is weighed and measured in order to maintain consistency and this takes time. If we compromise on this quality, then we won’t have a queue!

The opening of 78 kept us on our toes all the way through the rest of the year, with Halloween being another standout community event. Hugely well supported by you all, the weather was kind to us and with the help of Brentwood Connected we all had a blast!

Then of course the crescendo and the grand finale of the year was The Festive Shenfield event on the 1st of December. Once again the weather seemed determined to get in the way of our fun, but finally at 2pm the rain relented and you came out in your droves. It was my ninth Christmas in Shenfield and I’ve never seen crowds like that before!

We took the decision to close over the Christmas break to give all of the staff an extremely well earned rest (including us!). 2024 has been an absolutely wild ride and I felt like we’d all run out of steam and needed to take a breath.

So now we are in a new year and have all sorts of opportunities and adventures to explore. The creative team will be sitting down in the next few days to plan this year’s calendar. The Craft Beer Festival will definitely see its third iteration, and there is an art event planned in the garden with John Brandler of Brandler Galleries, owner of the largest collection of Banksy work in Europe. Food is also on the horizon with a breakfast and tapas menu in the testing stages.

One thing is certain.

We will always strive to improve and push forward to deliver something really special to the good people of Shenfield. Thanks for your support doesn’t cut it. We’re humbled by you daily and it drives us to improve wherever we can.

Big LOVE ❤️

Matt