The Red Lion - South Oxfordshire

Best avoided. Woodcotes a nice area but this pub is dreadful. Landlord was rude and seemed offended that we wanted to eat lunch there without a reservation (even though it was basically empty). Gave off real Basil Fawlty vibes.

Excellent Sunday roast accompanied by a selection of 8 lovely fresh vegetables!! Well worth a trip from Caversham will definitely visit again in near future!

Absolutely terrible experience. Refused to take my friend’s Scottish Bank pound notes (pound sterling) with no explanation, and made us feel entirely uncomfortable for the entire of our visit. When we tried to raise it later through their Facebook page they deleted our posts. This is clearly a locals pub for local people, anyone else stay away.

There don't seem to have been any reviews on this website for this pub since 2018...I wonder why. The food was fine, the drinks were fine, but we were the only people in the pub on a Saturday lunchtime, and the landlord was rude and unwelcoming and made such a fuss about fitting us in to eat (we had pre-booked) that we nearly all walked out. Very Odd.

There is something about a steam fayre that provokes memories. Is it the smell of coal dust on the wind mixed with oily steam, the toot of a whistle, the overpriced warm beer, the industrial street food, or is it the homemade cream cakes, thin iced coffee and particularly the lack of a cash machine in a cash-based society. No-one of th Corps of yellow jackets knew where a local bank was, 'but there should be one in Reading! ' 10 miles away. Why would I need a bank on a Sunday? But Lo there might be a cash machine, in the village Co-op, when it is open, but this is rural Oxfordshire, where people do not properly shop on the Sabbath, but might be worth a try as it sells newspapers! It is only a mile from the Steam Rally, and I needed money! After a hot walk past the village green, all neatly covered over with its wheeled sou 'westers, I found a surprisingly modern corner co-op shop open, and fully trading after church and before dusk; in reality, all day. Within its air-conditioned cavern was a working, free cash machine, and the fridges also supplied a couple of ice cold drinks. On the way back to the steam rally sits the Red Lion pub, brooding over an unused cricket lawn, but with a sign, promoting a Sunday Roast Lunch, and Real Ale! Who could resist? The headboard says it is the pub at the heart of the village, but The Lion is maybe no longer at the heart of the village, that has drifted away with urban sprawl, but A village pub is still The heart of a village and has been so for some 175 years, and has resisted modernisation. Walking through the front door felt like a time vtrip to the fifty’s. The menu looked as if it had been written more than a few years ago and had similarly resisted update, but lack of change makes life easy for the kitchen staff. The low front door is only a step off the highway, into a dark haven sporting a large, unlit log fire and a long bar. Today I was only interested in a cool beer and Sunday Lunch, and not in the local farmers in yellow corduroys of various hues, propping up the bar, and pausing in their bucolic conversation as they give me the once-over. There is a small, somewhat sparse back room restaurant opening onto a sun terrace with a cooling breeze blowing through the French windows. Maybe a good place for a family meal out with modest expectations I ordered a cold beer at the sidebar, but was told all the beer is served at a proper Room Temperature, but did I want ice in it. I hesitated, but the Landlady came by and suggested I try the Lager, which was 'proper cold! '. I did and it was. -0C Sunday Lunch was still being served, but a pre-booked large party was expected and did I want lunch. I said yes, and was directed to a table in the back room and quickly a large serving of mixed roasted meats, Roast Potatoes, Yorkshire pudding and bubbling gravy arrived with a generous side dish of several mixed veggies. The meal was quite pleasant, but let down by the meat, machine sliced in precise 3mm slices from a butchers roll, complete with bits of string. Tough, solid, and unappetising, but good gravy and crispy Yorkshire. A £17.00 bill for a meal that filled a hole, and lager that cooled me down, but the Red Lion is not on my list for a revisit.