20th Julyl 2006

Peyton Arms has new tenants

Mick (the Hat) Weston and his Jean wife are living their dream as the new tenants of the Peyton Arms, Stoke Lyne near Bicester in Oxfordshire. For this unspoilt little stone inn located in a peaceful rural setting is the pub that they had always wanted to run. The pub is listed in CAMRA National Inventory of pub interiors of outstanding historic interest as being one of fewer than 250 pubs left in Britain to have an interior of outstanding heritage, untouched by developers.

Hook Norton Managing director James Clarke said: “We certainly intend to keep the pub open, and Mick and Jean Weston are working hard to re-build the trade.” The pub is an unspoilt rural gem with two simply appointed bars and a more recent third room. It is a pub for conversations that eddy and swirl around the small main bar punctuated only by the laughter of customers.

The Hook Norton draught real ales are poured directly from casks, as the pub has no hand pumps. Drinkers in the snug, known as the front room, are served through a hatch in the wall. Many metal puzzles hang from the ceiling or can be found on shelves and drinkers are challenged to see if they can complete such tasks as balance 12 nails on top of another nail.