Save The Red Lion - Upper Basildon

Save The Red Lion - Upper Basildon Campaign to explore the options for saving the village pub in Upper Basildon

19/05/2026

There was a tremendous turnout to the ‘Revive’ The Red Lion meeting last week in the village hall with a really positive response!

Time is of the essence, so to keep momentum going on the purchase and you didn’t leave your details, want a copy of the slides and want to be added distribution list, please email [email protected]. Those of you that left your details (we had ~180 people attend), John & Annabel will be in touch (they are also at the Red Lion in Blewbury, do check it out).

John and Annabel will hold ‘open day’ sessions in the Upper Basildon Red Lion pub car park on Tuesday 2nd June 09:00-14:00 and Wednesday 3rd June 16:00-20:00 for any residents who wish to meet with them in person to review the information and address any points you may have.

Assuming there’s enough take up by ~15th June and everything goes to plan, they aim to exchange contracts during the week of 22nd June! With a following wind, this would mean a soft opening before Christmas this year… 🤞🏼

10/05/2026

A reminder to come to the Village Hall on Wednesday for this important meeting. 📅 Please help us spread the word to those villagers who are not on Social Media 👇🏻

*IMPORTANT UPDATE*. Save the date: Wednesday 13th May @7.45. UB Village Hall.
Hi everyone. We have some exciting news and have arranged this meeting to discuss the future of the pub and its potential purchase, including village involvement. As villagers’ input and participation will be critical to the future of the pub in this process, please come, hear the plans from the potential acquirers and be part of the discussion!

02/05/2026

*IMPORTANT UPDATE*. Save the date: Wednesday 13th May @7.45. UB Village Hall.
Hi everyone. We have some exciting news and have arranged this meeting to discuss the future of the pub and its potential purchase, including village involvement. As villagers’ input and participation will be critical to the future of the pub in this process, please come, hear the plans from the potential acquirers and be part of the discussion!

Red Lion Update – Community Efforts & ProgressNow that the decorations are down and 2025 is fully underway, your Red Lio...
16/01/2025

Red Lion Update – Community Efforts & Progress

Now that the decorations are down and 2025 is fully underway, your Red Lion support team wanted to update the community on recent activity. We’ve been working hard behind the scenes, with numerous meetings being held during the holiday period.

Local research suggests there’s no doubt that our area is home to some vibrant pubs, including the newly refreshed Swan in Pangbourne, and that community support for a reinvigorated Red Lion remains strong. We were hopeful that TRL would open in early December, based on rumours and some activity on the ground, but unfortunately this did not come to fruition. As we understand it, the short-term lessee and pubco Stonegate are still in negotiations.

However, there has been additional potential interest, with a reasonably local, privately owned pub group having expressed interest in TRL. Their anticipated proposal would involve a combination of private and community ownership. We will update you when more details emerge. Another local pub owner has approached Stonegate, but confidence remains low that this will resolve the situation.

The most exciting development is that having sliced and diced the numbers, we are set to table an offer for the pub on behalf of the community in the next few weeks.

We’ve been working hard on the business model (thanks to everyone involved), but this is subject to resolution of the financing, which remains an open question. Unfortunately, the new government is closing the ACV fund set up in 2021, which means the up to £250K grant is no longer available for our project. The Plunkett Foundation remains a potential resource for us and we are meeting their representatives again shortly.

We met with the council in November and will continue to keep them informed about our plans.

Next Steps: Once we have something concrete to report, we will call for a wider village hall meeting to share the next steps with the community.

Visit to The Plough, LongparishIn August a small group of the Save the Red Lion team were kindly hosted by The Plough, n...
12/09/2024

Visit to The Plough, Longparish

In August a small group of the Save the Red Lion team were kindly hosted by The Plough, now a community owned pub in Longparish, near Andover.

The pub's treasurer and operations manager led us through their journey, starting with the pub’s closure, then the village coming together to build a plan to look to buy and reopen the pub. This included their negotiations with the owner, building a fundraising /share offer campaign in the community, followed by their successful purchase in 2020.

We also learnt about the their extensive refurbishment and the highs and lows of getting a community-owned business off the ground,

They opened in 2021, The Plough is now a welcoming, smartly decorated, lively pub with friendly staff, great facilities and strong links with the their community.

We left feeling inspired and with a greater sense of the challenges and possibilities for acquiring and re-opening the the Red Lion as a community business. We were also joined at the meeting by Alison, representing the Plunkett charitable foundation, that supports community businesses with advice and guidance.

Your Red Lion, what’s your ideal local?Thank you all for your patience – summer is well under way and the groups explori...
09/08/2024

Your Red Lion, what’s your ideal local?

Thank you all for your patience – summer is well under way and the groups exploring options for The Red Lion in Upper Basildon have met several times… and we have a question for you :-)

Q: What kind of pub do you want in our village?

“Start Survey” click the link below - to choose option 1, 2 or 3 to cast your vote for the type of pub you would want to see in our village.

…and do let us know in the comments :-)

https://us14.list-manage.com/survey?u=737f036c43ab183069a5e7d5a&id=8da51562fb&e=4d87c82239

10/07/2024

Help needed!
Can you bring some social media sparkle ✨ to our campaign?
We are looking for a volunteer with experience in digital content to join our team.
If you have a bit of time, experience and enthusiasm, please DM us for more information!

As polling draws to a close The Red Lion Campaign is only just beginning. 💥Lots of support at the polling station today
04/07/2024

As polling draws to a close The Red Lion Campaign is only just beginning. 💥

Lots of support at the polling station today

07/06/2024

It’s been almost a month since our meeting at the village hall and so here is an update on how things are going.

We had our first meeting with the finance/fundraising committee last night. At this stage it’s really about scoping out feasibility and interest but, one thing we know for sure is that we REALLY want to have a local pub!

For those who have registered, look out for an email in the next week. If you want to be added to our distribution list and/or to get involved, drop us a line [email protected]

22/05/2024

What a great start!
A big thanks to all of you who joined us last week at Upper Basildon Village Hall. In fact, 130 of you came to hear our thoughts on next steps. So, what are the next steps? Well we’ve put together a few groups based on how you said that you wanted to be involved. Emails are being sent and first meetings are being arranged! Check your inbox! If you didn’t attend but want to be added to the list or want to be involved, please contact us [email protected].

We will post the next update here!

Thanks all.

13/05/2024

Don't forget, the Pub meeting is tonight, doors open at 7pm, meeting starts at 7.30pm. Basildon Village hall, Bethesda Street

Address

Village Hall, Bethesda Street Upper Basildon Reading
Reading
RG88NU

Telephone

+447899905909

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Save The Red Lion - Upper Basildon posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Establishment

Send a message to Save The Red Lion - Upper Basildon:

Shortcuts

Share

Category