The co-founder of The Long Table, Tom Herbert, has announced he is leaving the organisation after accepting redundancy.
Tom, who helped launch The Long Table in Brimscombe, Stroud in 2018, said he was “heartbroken” to be leaving the team and work he loves, while reflecting on everything that has been achieved over the past eight years.
In a deeply personal statement, Tom said: “I am so so so mightily astounded at what we’ve built together, the incredible things we’ve made possible, the countless lives we’ve touched and the bellies we’ve filled. Most of all I’m grateful for the deep connections made.
“My time at The Long Table has come to an end. I’ve accepted redundancy, and I’m heartbroken not to be working with the team I love, doing work I adore. Over time The Long Table has become my identity, so I’m asking, who am I now?
“I couldn’t have fitted in more life since receiving the vision for The Long Table, and I need a hot minute to digest all I’ve ingested. So first I’m heading to the cold Cornish sea to breathe the air and scream at the moon.
“The hard trials and chewy things of the past few years will become rich learnings and compost for whatever’s next. I’ll share deeper insights here on Substack, and around campfires, as they become life giving and vital.
“Next, I will keep gathering people around food for the positive change it makes possible. The best thing I can say right now is that I’ve done what I came here to do.
“Both Long Tables are in good hands, with brilliant teams to keep the cooking and the gathering going.”
Tom started The Long Table after a vision which became reality on a February night in 2018.
He said: “The vision became edible on a February night in 2018, with a barbecue and a washing-up bowl in the Furniture Bank warehouse 81 souls encouraging us on.
“We pushed tables together until they ran the length of the building like a lumpy snake. Friends and family lit the candles and laid the placemats that boldly proclaimed The Long Table manifesto. A restaurant for the future was born.
“Since then so much has happened I could write a book. Here are just some of the highlights.
“During Covid we delivered more than 100,000 meals, which put Emma Hurrell’s name on the front of a GWR train. We launched the Friends programme so people could give monthly, and the response from well over 400 neighbours was the most wonderful local support.
“Then came the first eviction, and so many of you rolled up your sleeves to help breathe life into the beautiful old bones of Brimscombe Mill, a building that had lain derelict for three decades and is now positively throbbing with life.
“Against all advice and evidence to the contrary, we partnered with the Diocese of Gloucester, went again and opened a second Long Table in Cirencester.
“Then came the second eviction, and a response from our community so overwhelming, a hug so big, that it caught the attention of people far and wide and turned the tide.
“#FillTheMill still echoes around that beloved old mill, under a thin old roof that has scorched us in summer and left us perishing in winter. Through it all the kitchen kept great food coming, and people kept finding each other around the table.”
The Long Table was recently a finalist for Sustainable Restaurant of the Year at the National Restaurant Awards and is also one of three finalists for Cotswold Life Restaurant of the Year.
But Tom said the awards were not what mattered most.
“Awards are tinsel, though! What matters most are the countless stories of people coming in, being welcomed, feeling safe and finding a place to belong.
“Hardly a week goes by without a group from somewhere arriving to eat with us and see what might be possible where they live.”
Tom paid tribute to the staff who have worked at The Long Table over the years.
“To the team, past and present: big-hearted, hard-working and super talented. You make The Long Table possible, and I love you so much it hurts.
“Many of you know the stories of personal growth, because we’ve seen how a great team lifts everyone up and makes the seemingly impossible thrive.
“Sourcing from great local farms and championing them, cooking their precious produce beautifully, doing our utmost to make everyone welcome whatever they can afford: I couldn’t think more highly of you and all we’ve done together.”
He also thanked the wider community which has supported the project.
“Thank you to everyone who came alongside us, encouraged us and challenged us, to the Friends of The Long Table for your faithful support, and to every one of you who has swung a leg over a bench or pulled up a chair.
“And thank you to my friends and family, who held me through two evictions, Covid and so much more.”
Tom said he hoped The Long Table would continue to thrive under its existing teams.
“My sincere hope is that The Long Table, in the hands of this brilliant team, goes on and on, always a delicious beacon of hope. Please help keep it strong.
“Become a Friend with a monthly gift, whatever you can manage. Bring your colleagues, your family or your group for lunch at Brimscombe Mill in Stroud or the Old Department Store in Cirencester, pay what you can, and ask about hosting your next gathering there.
“I look forward to eating at the restaurant that first came to me on my loneliest day. I’ll see you down there some lunchtime, no doubt.”
Tom said his future plans would continue to involve bringing people together around food.
“The Long Table was where forty years of growing up above the bakery met the wild creativity and joy of cooking around the world. Those forty years taught me the importance of provenance, produce, people and family values.
“What so many of us have experienced and love about The Long Table is like a sourdough starter, a living culture that can be shared, and I want to take it wherever it’s needed.
“There is so much need for reconciliation, unity and healing in places of division, and a shared meal is one of the most powerful ways I know of bringing people together. I’m up for going where a shared meal might be the last chance saloon.”
Tom said the next chapter had already begun.
“It’s already begun. Fourteen round the table at a Partners in Purpose gathering a couple of weeks ago. Thirty at a lunch with Pippa Jones’s Common Good. Two hundred at a four-course feast in Old Town, Portland, Oregon, with Garden Spaces and Feed the Mass, gathering some of the city’s most marginalised people for an evening of hope and renewal.”
He is now inviting people with a table, community or project that could benefit from bringing people together around food to get in touch.
“If you’ve a table that needs setting, whatever its size and wherever in the world, I’d love to hear from you at tom_herbert1@icloud.com, and I’d love to know what change you and your community are hungry for.”
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