Villagers to re-open local pub ‘for the community’

A PUB in Shiplake is to re-open before Christmas.

The Baskerville in Station Road has been bought by villagers Greg Stone and Tim Green from Tavern Propco.

It will be managed by Jeremy Buckler, who currently manages the Anchor in Friday Street, Henley.

The pub has been shut since August 1 when former landlord Simon Cromack said the business was no longer financially viable.

Mr Stone, who has lived in Shiplake for 30 years and used to work in the IT industry, said he wanted to restore the Baskerville’s reputation as a family pub.

He said: “It is an important part of the Shiplake community and it was a tragedy to see it shut. We want to see the village have its pub back.

“If we didn’t buy it, what was going to happen to it? It could have been turned into flats or just left here for a number of years.”

Mr Stone said he understood that it was a difficult time to open a pub with rising energy bills and staff shortages but he felt he had to take the opportunity.

“Don’t get me wrong, it’s a business but we’re not here to make as much money as possible,” he said. “I suppose this is philanthropic to a degree.”

The pub will open before Christmas but will not offer a full service immediately.

Mr Stone said: “We have a lot to sort out. It wasn’t shut down in a very organised way and we have to work out our suppliers and other infrastructure.

“We hope we will be serving some food before Christmas and we will definitely do so in the future.”

Mr Green, who used to work in private equity, said they had no interest in competing with Orwells restaurant in Binfield Heath or the Plough in Lower Shiplake, which is also re-opening.

He said: “We want it to be a good village pub where people can drop in for a couple of drinks in the evening or during the day.

“We want a community pub that does what it says on the tin and to make sure it is a community asset.

“It is very different to what I’ve done before but the pub has such potential. It used to be a good pub. People are increasingly coming around to what pubs used to be. Instead of high eating places, people want good pub food and atmosphere, something for the community. You could also say that the village has voted against that over the last two or three years because that’s what it was trying to become and it wasn’t successful.

“We couldn’t have found a better operator. Jeremy has been in the pub trade in Henley for around 30 years, so he knows the place well and has a successful track record of managing places.”

The new owners have been friends for about a decade and had often chatted about the potential of the Baskerville.

Mr Stone said: “We were customers here on a regular basis – not every day but certainly most weeks.”

Mr Green said: “We always had an idea about what we might do with this pub. We always talked about it.

“We were never going to run it ourselves. Greg and I have known Jeremy for a while. We asked him to come and take a look at the place to give us his views on the kitchen and the cellar and whether we were completely barking mad.

“He said that the stars were aligned and expressed his interest in coming to manage this for us, which was irresistible because we have absolutely no experience in hospitality. I’ve hosted a dinner party or two and that’s it.”

When he closed the pub, Mr Cromack blamed spiralling costs and an acute staff shortage.

Mr Cromack, who took over the pub in 2020, said he had looked at ways to reduce costs, including passing some on to customers but he didn’t think this was acceptable.

He said: “My ambition was to build the business to become a viable proposition 12 or so months down the line but two years and two months later, this is not the case and I have had to react quickly.”

Mr Cromack, an experienced business caterer, took over the pub from Kevin and Kate Hannah, who ran it for almost nine years after Mr Hannah’s parents, Allan and Kathleen, handed the lease to him after 10 years.

For the last four of those years Mr Cromack’s parents, Graham and Mary, took charge of the day-to-day running of the pub.

In 2020, the Baskerville won pub of the year in the Visit England Awards for Excellence. It was awarded one AA rosette in 2021 and featured in the AA Restaurant Guide 2022.