The only pub in a village near High Wycombe is reopening in just a few weeks – with a new manager excited to bring out its full potential.

The Crown on City Road in Radnage closed its doors in January 2023 after being sold by owner Steven Smith to a new landlord. An apparent stretch of inaction over the following months was down to Bucks Council’s lengthy consideration of a planning application to extend the pub and capitalise on its prime location and hospitality monopoly in the area.

Now, nearly 18 months later, The Crown is finally set to reopen with brand-new features including a café and boutique hotel designed to give the cosy building a “new lease of life”.

Manager Martina, who recently moved to Radnage after 20 years of running her own bar in Ireland, said the gig had appealed to her because it “offered something different”.

She said: “It just looked like a nice area – lovely countryside and not too far from London. When I joined the team, we did some research about the village, found out what it was missing and decided to fill that space.

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“You’ve got to provide a bit more as a pub nowadays to survive in the industry. In my experience, a big part of it is also hiring local people and getting the community involved.

“I just think it’s a project with huge potential – we’re getting ready to open in a few weeks, so it’s very busy at the moment but there’s already been lots of great feedback from the locals. They’ll stop by or just chat on the street. Everyone's really excited - it feels very positive.”

Marc Delmotte, who bought the site back in February 2023, said he hoped the reopening news would spell a more positive future for The Crown after confusion among villagers when the site was temporarily used as a car dealership last year. 

He said: “While we were trying to get planning permission, the pub was sat here closed and doing nothing. I did use it for trading for a while, but then Martina came along, we saw that she was the right person to take it over, and I’m happy with where we’ve ended up.”

Marc and Martina both stressed the thoroughly local ethos of the new-and-improved venue, based on newly-formed relationships with local butchers and brewers and insisted that –  despite the lofty hotel and café ambitions – it will remain “nothing other than an old-fashioned country pub”.

The Crown in Radnage is expected to reopen in August. Keep your eyes peeled for updates as we get them!