tap.social
tap.social
tap.social taproom
Coming soon… socialbar presents a new space to enjoy craft beer on draught. Placed on Fromus Square, tap.social enjoys a courtyard garden to sip beer, hang out and choose from the diverse food on offer.
upcoming
Book club at socialbar
First Wednesday of the month - February 4th
Doors open 6.30 pm
We're a book club for people who love reading as much as they love a good drink. No stuffy meetings, just great books, good conversation and a relaxed atmosphere. We meet the first Wednesday of every month at 6.30 pm at socialbar.
Come find your next favourite story — and a few new friends.
What to expect:
– Relaxed atmosphere
– Small group discussions
– Facilitated reading and book choices
– Wine, coffee & snacks, including mini brioche sandwiches and cheese and charcuterie boards, available to buy.
We kindly ask that you leave outside drinks and food at home
Doors open a 6.30 pm | group runs from 7.00–8.30pm | Bar open until 10pm
Seats are limited – reserve yours now. If you can’t make it, please let us know at hello@visitsocialbar.com so someone else can join.
Monthly Poetry Night
with Tamar Yoseloff (Poetry in Aldeburgh)
An evening of contemporary poetry in the heart of Saxmundham, with a special guest reader and a curated open mic.
Hosted by Tamar Yoseloff (Poetry in Aldeburgh), this is a monthly event for established writers, emerging voices and anyone who relishes the poetic realm.
What to expect:
Guest reader (each month)
Curated open mic (limited slots)
An attentive audience... and the relaxed atmosphere of socialbar
Want to read?
Open mic slots are limited and curated to give every reader a proper audience.
Reserve a slot in advance
Email: chair@poetryinaldeburgh.orgOn-the-night slots: a small number may be available on a first-come basis
Tuesday February 17
Doors: 7pm
Entry: £5
Location: socialbar, Saxmundham
Music to Die For
Doors: 6.30pm
Event: 7pm - 9pm
IMusic To Die For
A guided evening of songs for processing loss
Grief changes shape, but the people we have loved continue to live through the stories, memories and music we carry with us.
Music To Die For is an intimate, communal evening exploring how songs can help us remember, make sense of loss and stay connected to the people who have shaped our lives. Through music, stories and gentle conversation, the evening creates space for sadness and joy, for reflection and laughter, and for thinking about what remains, what we carry forward, and how love continues to find expression after someone has died.
There is no expectation to speak or share your own experience. You are equally welcome to come simply to listen and be alongside others.
The project was founded by clinical psychologist Dr Hazel Harrison and music and creative-health specialist Phillipa Anders. Their work has since developed into a growing archive of stories from people describing the music that connects them to someone they have lost. Music To Die For
Dr Hazel Harrison is a clinical psychologist whose work centres on connection, psychological understanding and creating environments in which people can feel supported and understood. She has worked with organisations including the BBC, BT, the Premier League and the Royal Ballet School, and created and presented mental-health and wellbeing content for the BBC.
Phillipa Anders has spent her career working in music as a teacher, project manager and senior arts leader, including as Director of the Music Programme at Britten Pears Arts. Her work has taken her into schools, prisons, care homes, orchestras and opera houses, and she has contributed to the National Centre for Creative Health and the advisory group of the Cambridge Institute of Music Therapy Research.
Together they offer something that sits between a concert, a conversation and a shared act of remembrance: a place to encounter grief without being defined by it, and to celebrate the relationships and music that remain part of us.
Tuesday 20 October · 7pm · socialbar, Saxmundham
Free entry · booking required
Sharing, holding, listening.
Everyone’s welcome.
Come by yourself or with friends. Bring your own board game or use one of ours!
We’ll help you get set up. Play with friends or someone entirely new and make a new friend.
Steve and Sarah will be on hand to serve soft drinks, wine, beer and simple snacks. We kindly ask that you leave outside drinks and food at home.
The bar will be open until 10 pm.
No need to book - just turn up. It will be a chilled out, relaxed atmosphere.
See you there!
Why Women Fight
Doors: 6.30pm
Event: 7pm - 9pm
Women have always fought. What changes is why, where and how their stories are remembered.
In Why Women Fight: The Long History of Women in Combat, Victoria Preston traces women’s involvement in warfare from the ancient world to the battlefields of Ukraine, challenging the idea that the female combatant is a modern phenomenon. Through historical research and first-hand interviews with resistance fighters, soldiers, conscripts and volunteers — including women who have fought in Iraq, Ukraine and Colombia — she explores what drives people towards combat: survival, kinship, ideology, desperation, liberty and the defence of those around them.
Victoria brings an unusual perspective to the subject. After four decades working in strategic communications with international organisations and governments, she joined the British Army at 59 as a Specialist Reservist Officer, serving under the Royal Engineers cap badge and ultimately retiring as a Colonel. She continues to support the military in a civilian capacity. The History Press
For this evening at socialbar, Victoria will begin with a presentation drawing on the women and ideas behind the book. We’ll then move into an interview-style conversation exploring warfare, courage, social expectations, identity and the circumstances in which people become willing to fight, before opening the discussion to questions from the audience.
Presentation
Interview
Audience Q&A
Meet. Hear.
Every month.
Free to attend | Booking essential
Meet. Hear. is a small-group peer listening evening exploring how attentive hearing strengthens connection, resilience and community.
This evening centres on two simple ideas: that people have shared emotional needs, and that respectful, structured listening helps those needs be met. Rather than advice-giving or problem-solving, we focus on attention, presence and mutual understanding.
This is the first of three monthly gatherings designed to build listening skills and deepen supportive community ties in a calm, structured setting.
Free to attend.
Booking essential via email or in person at socialbar.
Happy Hallowine at socialbar!
Step into the shadows…if you dare.
This Halloween, socialbar is transforming into a den of delicious mischief — think cobwebs, haunted haze, spine-tingling prizes and just the right amount of eerie.
Is that a ghost, or just your reflection in a glass?
DJ Adz will be spinning the sinister sounds while we pour wines and beers to raise our spirits and calm the nerves. Creepy nibbles to keep you coming back for more.
Why hasn’t she got a shadow?
Fancy dress encouraged, prizes up for ghoulish grabs - but bring your bravest mates if you’re easily spooked…there’s safety in numbers!
Groups book now to avoid a fright!
socialbar Saturday night wiht funky house DJ Funky R
Join us for our an evening of funky house grooves as DJ Funky R takes over the socialbar decks. Expect a steady flow of groovy sounds, blending the soulful rhythms and driving melodies combined with Nu-disco.
Funky R’s selections will provide the perfect bounce for your Saturday night cocktails and pizza!
No tickets, no fuss — just come.
past
MAKE GOOD SHOP LAUNCH
MAKE GOOD opens its doors in Saxmundham this October — a new shop bringing together beautifully made objects for home and living from independent makers across East Anglia.
Thoughtfully curated, tactile and quietly distinctive, it’s a space to discover things made with skill, character and purpose. Join us for the launch weekend on Friday 2 and Saturday 3 October, 10am–4pm, at No. 1 High Street.
Saxmundham Wholefoods
Long Tables - A Celebration
Join us at socialbar to celebrate one year of Saxmundham Wholefoods* with a generous seasonal vegan sharing feast, served around one long table.
The idea is simple: good food, passed around, with time to talk. Some guests will come with friends, others may arrive knowing nobody. The food is designed to create an easy, sociable evening — shared dishes, conversation and connection around the table.
We’ll begin a welcome drink - an autumn spritz (non-alcoholic available). The first course with warm focaccia, whipped cannellini bean dip, sea vegetable salsa verde, confit cherry tomatoes, marinated olives and pickled fennel.
The main feast will include flamingo pea cassoulet, roasted squash with sage oil and toasted hazelnuts, charred seasonal vegetables using the best available produce from Maple Farm served with a mixed seasonal leaf and herb salad with lemon dressing.
For dessert, Eton mess made for sharing — vegan whipped cream and cream cheese, seasonal fruit coulis and fresh fruit, piled onto big platters for everyone to spoon generously into bowls at the table.
A relaxed, abundant dinner celebrating local food, seasonal produce and the simple pleasure of eating together.
Tuesday 26 September · 7pm
3 courses · £30
socialbar, 15 High Street, Saxmundham
* This event is subsidised by Saxmundham Wholefoods
Bring Your Own Vinyl Night
Share your sounds at our monthly vinyl night.
For Summer - if the weather’s good, Vinyl Night will take place at socialbar’s sister site - tap.social taproom. Just across the high street, tap.social has outdoor seating so that people can enjoy the grooves outside.
Whether it’s a cherished classic, a dusty B-side, or your latest crate-digging gem, bring your vinyl and we’ll play it on the bar’s turntable.
No DJ skills needed — we’ll provide those. Just bring your vinyl, your taste and a love for music.
Drop in, drop the needle, and enjoy drinks, snacks, and good company while the records spin.
No tickets, no fuss — just come.
Meet. Hear.
Every month.
Free to attend | Booking essential
Meet. Hear. is a small-group peer listening evening exploring how attentive hearing strengthens connection, resilience and community.
This evening centres on two simple ideas: that people have shared emotional needs, and that respectful, structured listening helps those needs be met. Rather than advice-giving or problem-solving, we focus on attention, presence and mutual understanding.
This is the first of three monthly gatherings designed to build listening skills and deepen supportive community ties in a calm, structured setting.
Free to attend.
Booking essential via email or in person at socialbar.
Everyone’s welcome.
Come by yourself or with friends. Bring your own board game or use one of ours!
We’ll help you get set up. Play with friends or someone entirely new and make a new friend.
Steve and Sarah will be on hand to serve soft drinks, wine, beer and simple snacks. We kindly ask that you leave outside drinks and food at home.
The bar will be open until 10 pm.
No need to book - just turn up. It will be a chilled out, relaxed atmosphere.
See you there!
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The Sustained Creative
A monthly meetup for creative professionals
Sign up
Being a creative and building a professional life has always been challenging. Now though, in a time where the rate of change - economic, cultural, political and technological - is staggering. these challenges can feel overwhelming.
The Sustained Creative is a brand-new gathering for emerging and established artists, actors, writers, filmmakers, designers, makers, musicians, producers, sculptors, photographers and anyone building a life around creative work.
A Life That Works
Creative work can be meaningful and deeply human. It can also be precarious, underfunded, isolating and difficult to hold together, especially against an economic backdrop that often fails to recognise the value of creative labour.
The Sustained Creative meetup exists precisely to address to this reality.
This monthly event offers up a space for conversation, connection and practical support. The aim is simple: to help creative professionals meet, share what's happening in their working lives and build the kind of community that makes creative work more sustainable, more energising and more motivating.
this is not just a networking evening, though meeting people is central to it. It is also a place to explore the pressures creative professionals carry, the resources they might need and the practical knowledge that helps them to continue to make, earn and flourish over time.