The History of the Red Lion.

It would be difficult to imagine a more picturesque building than The Red Lion Inn with its walls of honey-coloured local stone and its roof of grey, beautifully crafted thatch. Even the porch has its own covering of thatch. Cropredy village sits beside the Oxford Canal, amongst beautiful countryside, with towpath walks stretching for miles in either direction and the inn itself, is just a few moments walk from the Cropredy Lock, along the delightful Red Lion Street.

This pretty village is steeped in history and every four years witnesses the re-enactment of the 1644 Battle of Cropredy Bridge. Each year the village is home to the famous Cropredy Fesitval. This lovely, family folk festival is organised by the legendary folk band, Fairport Convention.

A few miles to the west of the village is the National Trust property of Upton House. This late-17th century building is notable for its outstanding collection of paintings which includes works by Brueghel and El Greco.

The lovely display of a local artists work adorning the walls at the Red Lion, may not be quite so valuable but at least you could afford to take one home with you and it is by a local artist..

We are trying to piece together the history of the pub so if you know any of its history please e-mail us the information so that we can create a timeline for the property

So far we have part of the licencee history

1940's on - Jo Adlum

Rupert Tate

Early 1960's Bernard Cole

Bob Fletcher

1976 - 1982 or 3 John Reynolds (Moved Kitchen from buttery to upstairs, removed stairs from family room to buttery, installed a dumb waiter)

1987 - 1992 Jeremy and Jackie Hunt

1992 to 1997 John and Clara Dando

1997 to 2000 Dave and Claudia (installed central heating) and part rethtached

2000 to 2003 Ian Ellington and Sue Linnell (installed a modern electric RCD system, put a new carpet in the bar)

2003 to present Adam Morris and Karem Ohm (totally refurbished toilet block, changed part of the tarmac beer garden to grass beer garden, opened old fireplace in restaurant, replaced carpet in family room) Rethatched complete roof by master thatchers, took 3 weeks!!!!