The latest Private Eye magazine (No 1734) contains a sizable article on page 30 about the Bloxham Red Lion closure. Quite why the Red Lion qualifies for a place in a satirical magazine is a bit of a mystery!

It says that Fullers were disappointed not to be able to have agreed terms with the villagers but that they have now agreed to sell to another party understood to be a property developer.

It has to be said that one hopes Cherwell District Council will not even contemplate agreeing planning permission for development on the Red Lion Gardens – which has effectively become a replacement for the village green area that was lost in the 1830s when the A361 cut through the village leading to the Red Lion being re-sited.
Many recent and on-going developments proposals have been controversial but at the end of the day people accept what they cannot change with a fair degree of equanimity and certainly we accept the new residents as fully-fledged members of our community.
The Red Lion gardens are different. They represent the ONLY large central publically accessible green-space that the village possesses Historically the gardens have been used for many, many whole-village activities including BloxFest. If CDC cannot protect this from developers then one would have to seriously wonder just what on earth is the point of having a planning authority at all?