More than a pint
Published 03 November 2026

When the Hop Pole closed its doors and developers started circling, the village decided that wasn’t on. Local shareholders bought the pub in 2022, volunteers gave it a lick of paint and a great deal more, and it reopened in January 2025 as much more than a place for a pint. There’s a community room for everything from book and craft groups to environmental meetings, plus walking clubs, cycling groups and visiting food trucks. It matters most to older residents, for whom it’s a very welcome antidote to isolation.

When Corton Denham lost its village shop, the Queen’s Arms rolled up its sleeves. Local regular Doune Mackenzie-Francis and her family bought the pub in 2020 and added the ‘Pub Hub’, a coffee bar that also sells everyday essentials, so you can grab a pint of milk as well as a pint of ale. It’s a simple, inspired answer to the ever-decreasing rural services, and proof that a village pub can matter as much on a Tuesday morning as it does on a big Saturday night.

This thatched 17th-century inn has been run by Deborah and Robert Smallbone since 2003, carrying on a long tradition as the village’s living room. Its past says it all: the front-left room once doubled as the village post office, so you could post a letter and sink a pint. A pub’s value, as The Grove reminds us, runs well beyond the bar.

Reopened in 2025 by Jeopardy Hospitality, this once-shuttered village pub is back in business. Led by Sam Orbaum, the team balances ambitious cooking with the easy atmosphere of a proper local. A casual bar, monthly quizzes and street-food events mean everyone from die-hard regulars to first-timers gets a warm welcome.

When a developer eyed this much-loved meeting place for housing, managers Phil Papworth and Laura Burnie bought it themselves in 2016. Today it’s a lifeline for a remote community and a welcome sight for walkers looking to take a break from the Southern Upland Way. Quizzes, music sessions and Friday takeaway nights give locals a reason to leave the house through the long, dark winter.

For Jo and Dom, being a good local means nobody gets to feel like an outsider. Newcomers to Harbury are introduced to established residents, and the events diary is always packed: Knit & Natter, book clubs, poetry evenings, pottery classes and a Sunday Record Club. There’s something for everyone, including people who’d never normally describe themselves as ‘pub people’.

In the heart of Brackenbury Village, Luke and Suzanne’s Andover Arms works as an extended living room for the neighbours. For one Canadian newcomer, it became a second home and a surrogate family when London felt a bit too big and lonely. The calendar is just as welcoming, with life drawing, backgammon, street parties, harvest foodbank collections and charity dinners. Even in a sprawling city, a good pub can make the world feel a little smaller.

At the Bunch of Grapes, inclusivity is part of the furniture. Landlord Nick Otley, who brought brewing back to the site under the Cwrw Otley name in 2022, runs a place where workers in overalls are as at home as diners settling in for a proper meal. Regulars call it “your mam’s front room”, and they’re encouraged to shape the programme, from board-game nights and workshops to cheese tastings and pop-up markets. It’s a gloriously unpretentious pub that definitely belongs to its people.