Matthew O’Keefe (from the Royal Standard of England in Forty Green and the Hart and Magpies in Coleshill) told us that the intention is not to bring another gastro pub to the Penn and Tylers Green: “essentially”, he says, “the plan is to take the pub back to its roots as a traditional English village pub. The pool table and music will go and there will be open fires and honest pub food”.

Having said that, Matthew explained that he is a huge fan of France and French food.  He takes classic cars over to France and loves being able to get decent food practically wherever he happens to be when it’s time to eat. It’s this sort of philosophy that he’d like to bring to the Red Lion – a simple menu of good food, with no weird combinations and everything cooked on site. He says that the regular menu will definitely feature pub staples such as fish and chips, beef pie and burgers but there will also be a dish of the day and he will use local produce where possible.

In contrast to the Royal Standard and the Hart and Magpies, which are both freeholds, the Red Lion will continue to be tied to Enterprise Inns. Although this means that the Red Lion will not be able to offer such a wide range of local beers, Matthew says he’s still committed to selling reasonably priced, quality ales which will probably include Brakspear and Marlow IPA.

The team (including one of the chefs from the Royal Standard) hope to be in by March this year once the lease arrangements have been finalised. In the meantime Matthew says he wants to know what we want from our village pub. Let him know by emailing him on theoldestpub@btconnect.com.