09:30AM, Monday 24 November 2025
When new mayor Tom Buckley first came to Henley, he never envisioned himself living there.
Councillor Buckley moved to the town in 2017 from Leeds with his wife, Claire, after she gave up her 27-year career as a hairdresser.
A the same time, Cllr Buckley, who grew up in Belfast, landed a job in technical solutions for Primark in Reading.
However, on first looking at prospective places to move to, Cllr Buckley, 53, admits they didn’t think they would fit in.
He said: “We only heard of Henley through the regatta. We never envisioned living here.
“We walked over to where the boat house was and I remember thinking, this was quite nice.
“We went to the Catherine Wheel and we walked past Wealth Management and I remember looking at the boats on the river and thinking, ‘this isn’t the right place for us. It was a really weird feeling.
“I didn’t think we were going to fit in.
“But it was the community spirit here.
“It was Lovibonds beer, it was the laugh and the craic and being out with your mates. It was probably the first time since I was in my 20s where you felt like a group of like-minded people.
“Then Covid and the lockdowns overlaid a completely different lense and you saw people coming together [to support one another].
“Covid was bad in so many ways but it was also that time that made us stay here.”
Cllr Buckley moved to England in 1995, having lived in Belfast since he was 21.
He did bar work for two years in ?? before
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