Wine merchants buy local pub to prevent losing it

A FAMILY of wine merchants have bought the Red Lion pub in Peppard.

Villagers Tony and Barbara Laithwaite, who own Laithwaites Wine, bought the pub from Brakspear with their son Tom and his friend James Williamson, from Goring.

The pub, which is off the B481 opposite the junction with Church Lane, has been closed for about two years.

The family decided to buy it as they believe pubs should be saved from closure.

Mr Laithwaite, who founded his company in 1969 under the name Bordeaux Direct, said: “I don’t like seeing pubs shut down.

“Villages should have a pub as it’s a place for people to get together. Shutting a pub rips the heart out of a village.

“We were part of the campaign in 2003 to save the Unicorn in Colmore Lane and our slogan was, ‘The pub is the hub’. Prince Charles got behind it and we had Boris Johnson visit when he was MP for Henley.”

Mr Laithwaite jnr, who works for the company in wine production and sales, said Mr Williams came up with the idea of buying the pub.

“Over the years we’d thought about buying a pub but this was opportunistic. 

“James had been speaking to Tom Davies, chief executive of Brakspear, when a conversation about buying the Red Lion came up. As mum and dad live in the village and I grew up there, it made sense. I worked in hospitality when I was younger and it was always a dream to go back to it at some point.

“Pubs are important for the community and the Red Lion in particular has a lot of history that shouldn’t be thrown away. 

“I don’t think Brakspear were looking to sell but once we came in with an offer they were happy with, it was fairly easy.”

Mr Laithwaite jnr and Mr Williamson will be taking the lead on the pub due to their experience.

Mr Williamson’s parents ran pubs and he now owns his own establishment in Barnes.

Mr Laithwaite jnr’s first job was at the Dog, a pub opposite the Red Lion which has since closed and been turned into houses, and more recently worked with an Australian company called RedHeads Wine. 

The pair hope the pub will be open by the end of February after the building has been refurbished with new toilets and electrics. The garden will be turned into an events space. 

“There’s a children’s play area which doesn’t look safe that we’d like to repair,” said Mr Laithwaite jnr. “It’s a great space for them.

“The second we got the keys we went and started sorting things out. We saw lots of potential for an event space out the back.

“We want to put a catering building out there so we can run events like wedding receptions and parties. We are in this for the long haul so we’re taking our time to do it properly.” 

His father added: “It’s a bottomless pit of money at the moment. Bringing it back up to standard is not easy but we’ll find ways.”

The friends hope to keep the food menu “simple but good” and offer mainly pizzas.

They also hope to have events with guest professional chefs in the summer.

A wine selection from the family firm will be available alongside beer from another of Mr Laithwaite snr’s sons, Will, who owns the Loose Cannon Brewery in Abingdon. 

Mr Laithwaite, who has lived in Peppard for about 40 years, said he’d received a lot of nice comments since buying the pub.

He said: “It’s very exciting and I’ll be able to walk there. And it won’t serve pub wine, it’ll be good wine.

“Peppard is a village that very much likes to get together.

“Straight away I thought the idea was great. We didn’t think it was possible but we were just worried it was going to disappear.

“We’ll put a lot of passion and energy into it and we’ll have fun doing it.” 

Mr Laithwaite jnr added: “There was a great sense of relief that the pub has been saved — it’s very common for pubs to be bought and the land used for housing. 

“It’s a very exciting project so my day-to-day job may suffer a bit. I find myself in the middle of finance meetings thinking about what colour we should be painting the walls. It’s bit of a passion project.”