THICK, JUICY HAM SLICES packed between a freshly baked salt bread. Cutters can be eaten at any time of the day and Hammie’s Bar is a popular spot for the delicious fare.
ammie’s shop was established by Hamilton “Hammie” Hoyte, who had a special way to prepare his ham for his renowned ham cutters. Both Hoyte and his shop survived a fire and his losing a leg to diabetes, but death comes for us all and in 2013, Hoyte passed away at age 67.
The once popular shop in Long Gap, Bush Hall, St Michael, is again under new management but with the still tasty cutter it was built on. 
The new managers aim to bring the shop back to its glory days of the past, with an emphasis on good food, good fun and good people – under the name Hammie’s Meet and Greet
Desmond Marshall and Ryan Franklyn are business partners – and the men behind keeping the tasty tradition of Hammie’s ham cutters on the tongues of food lovers.
“We are not actually the owners . . . . We are leasing the bar from the owners. We used to frequent the area and Franklyn is actually from Long Gap so we know the bar very well as well as the original owner,” Desmond told EASY magazine.
“We got a call one day that the bar had closed so we tried to find out who had been running it and decided to reopen it. One of the reasons for this was we know everyone in the area and we wanted to have a place where the community could come and lime . . . .To give that sense of togetherness,” he said.
New management took over at the time of Hammie’s death and a check on Facebook showed that the Toozie bar had emerged to continue the Hammie tradition. However, things did not seem to be the same.
“After he passed, it wasn’t that bad but it didn’t have that business aspect,” said Gregory Franklyn (left), customer and also brother to Ryan.
Gregory said people still kept coming, but eventually the doors closed. This was where his brother Ryan came in.
“They got sports on TV and karaoke, with a good crowd on Friday nights. The owners are people persons and the lovely ladies behind the bar bring in customers too. As for me, I just like to enjoy myself and hang out,” he said.
One of those lovely ladies is Desmond’s wife, Leslyn. She told EASY how they planned to make the bar popular again.
“Business is good, can’t complain. We slow-roast the pork as well as the veal. We also have chicken and on weekends we have traditional lunch,” she said.
Leslyn said they had to rebuild the legacy of Hammie’s as things had started to “run down” under the previous management.
“Our main problem is that some people still think it’s under the previous management but we took over two months ago, calling it Hammie’s Meet and Greet. It kinda run down and took a nosedive before but we are trying to bring it back. People still coming for the ham and pork but they had lost trust in the place . . . . [However], it is getting better now.”
Desmond said they were keeping the same ambience as the original shop from when he remembered frequenting it, adding sports and music. He said it was all about community spirit.
“It is bringing the community together and making people happy. They like the ham, pork and veal cutters – that’s what it’s all about. Plus, we also do a breakfast menu. We used to open at 10 a.m. but people got upset and said they wanted breakfast too,” he said.
Roderick Layne was buying a ham cutter while the team was there. He said he remembered how great the shop used to be.
“When I was young I used to eat here; it was here long. Now, I come for my mother who has been coming here for years but not me. I trying to hit the gym so them days done. Still, if your mother still sending you for a ham cutter, then it got to be good,” he said. (CA)
