The Red Lion, Long Compton

11/06/2026

🎉

10/06/2026

🐾 Meet Cocoa the 3 year-old Black Labrador 🐾

Cocoa belongs to Harriet, who is part of the front of house crew at The Red Lion. Harriet is busy revising for her exams at the moment (she has her maths paper 2 tomorrow), but she took a break from her revision to bring Cocoa out for some essential Wednesday afternoon posing in the beer garden 😁.

Cocoa is mess of contradictions. Sometimes she's a bit of a lad, chewing on a rugby ball and skimming the froth off a pint of Guinness, other times she's a health fanatic, enjoying her favourite snack (carrots) and avoiding puppuccinos (even though she loves them) because they play havoc with her allergies. If you pick up a camera to take her picture, she instantly closes her eyes and lifts up her paw, as the influencer in her reckons that's her best angle 🤣.

At the end of a long day, Cocoa likes to curl up with her favourite toys, which include a Kevin the Carrot from Aldi UK, her octopus and her hedgehog. We love having Cocoa in the extended Red Lion family and we hope Harriet and her family will bring her in for lots more pub time when all the horrible exams are finished.

06/06/2026

Our summer set menu for groups of between 10 and 20 people is now live on our website (and reproduced here, so you don't have to go looking for it).

The perfect solution for family gatherings, friends' catch ups or that work's night out that you intended to have in December, but somehow its June and you still haven't got round to it 🫣. Just give us a call, get booked in and then let us know your pre-order before your visit. We'll do all the rest, while you relax with you friends, family or colleagues.

➡ Talk to us about 'Game Keepers', our private dining space for up to 12 people

04/06/2026

🌿 Meet our gardeners, Charlotte and Jayne 🌿

Charlotte used to work front of house at The Red Lion but decided she would like to be outdoors more, so went freelance and set up Charlotte's Gardening Services (her logo was designed by Eleanor, who is part of our floor team and is also a talented artist).
Assisted by her mum, Jayne, Charlotte is responsible for looking after The Red Lion's extensive beer garden.
This mother and daughter team are inspired by the positive effects that being outdoors has on mental health and want to create beautiful spaces to help people enjoy their time in the open air.
The garden would be a wilderness without their efforts, which we particularly appreciate at this time of year, when all the plants are growing like crazy and need frequent attention to keep them under control.
Raise your glass to Charlotte and Jayne the next time you are sitting in the beer garden with a pint - it's their hard work that makes it such a lovely space for adults, children and all our doggy visitors to enjoy 🥂.

03/06/2026

🐾 Meet Vinnie Bones, the 5 year-old Jack Russell Cross 🐾

This small but characterful terrier came to see us a couple of weeks ago to celebrate his dad Alex's 70th birthday. He's only found his forever home 18 months ago, when Alex and his wife adopted him from Battersea Dogs' Home. He had been found wandering the streets of Windsor and it's believed that he may have belonged to travellers or been an abandoned carnival dog 😭.

Since settling into his new home, Vinnie has let his new pawrents know that he loves sofa cuddles, big dogs and treats. His favourite delicacy is flappy ham (you know, the kind you put in sandwiches for fussy kids) and his flappy ears are fine tuned to even the smallest flap of his most beloved snack 🤣. He's not fooled by the flap of a spinach leaf or a slice of cucumber though, both of which he will turn his nose up at if you offer them to him.

Like many dogs, he's not not keen on loud noises and will scarper if his pawrents get the hoover out or if he hears a digger or excavator going about its business. He's also not keen on people walking with sticks. This may be due to a bad experience in his early life, or he may just have an irrational dislike of walking aids, who knows!

We loved meeting Vinnie and helping Alex to celebrate his birthday. We are delighted that they have found each other and we hope Vinnie has added pub visiting to his list of favourite pastimes now too.

01/06/2026

Did you know that we are sponsoring the dog show and the bar at Long Compton Community Fete again this year, and supplying one of the big raffle prizes too?

It's rare that we are able to actually attend the fete, as we are often super busy at the end of June, but supporting it like this makes us feel like we're still involved 😁.

👇 The official Long Compton Community Fete poster has landed! As you can see, we have even more things to try and fit on it this year 😁.

Please share this far and wide, to let everyone know about all the fun attractions we have at the fete this year.

We are looking forward to seeing you all on Saturday 27th June!

27/05/2026

🐾 Meet Honey the 9 year-old Golden Doodle 🐾

This gorgeous girl came to visit us a couple of weeks ago and won us over by working the camera like a super model. One minute we were squeaking to try and get a head tilt from her, the next she is on her back with her paws in the air, showing us the pose we should have been looking for in the first place 🤣.

Maybe Honey learnt this trick from her chic European friends, as she is a well-travelled dog, who happily jumps in the car and heads off through France to her regular Spanish holiday haunt. She's famous in many cafes and bars throughout France, where she wins everyone over by being super friendly with everyone. Whether you're an adult, a kid or another dog, Honey will be your friend, especially if you give her belly rubs or share your food with her.

Honey has massive FOMO, so her pet hate in life is being left behind. She always wants to know what's going on around her and can often be found looking over the wall at home, just in case there is something happening the other side that she could be getting involved with.

We loved meeting Honey and we hope that Long Compton gets another look-in soon, between her adventures on the continent 😁.

23/05/2026

We normally use this space to introduce dogs but Harry Miller found us earlier this week and his challenge really struck a chord with the team, so he's got his own unique post 😁.

Harry came into The Red Lion on Tuesday evening. He was soaking wet, having just been caught in a downpour and was looking for somewhere to warm up and dry out a bit. Lesca made him a coffee and insisted that he took his trousers off so that she could put them in the drier in the laundry for him 😱 (he was wearing shorts underneath - we're not that kinda pub 😜).

While he refuelled and warmed up by the fire, Harry told us that he was halfway through a challenge, travelling from his home town of Hastings to Snowdon in North Wales, in the company of the stick that you see in the picture, to raise money for Cancer Research UK.

Walking the first 100 miles resulted in two feet full of blisters, so he bought Dave the bike and planned to cycle the remaining miles. Dave, however, had other ideas and clapped out on Harry, so he had to pause his challenge to get him fixed. He got it back on the road on Tuesday afternoon, but had no sooner started cycling than the heavens opened and soaked him to the skin, which is when he found us.

We have checked his socials today and Harry finished his challenge earlier on by trekking up Snowdon and then descending to be reunited with his family. We know they must be super proud of him and we are delighted to have played a small part in helping him on his journey.

If you have any space cash to donate to his chosen cause, we know it would mean the world to Harry, whose family is currently experiencing firsthand how devastating a cancer diagnosis can be. Here's the link to his Facebook fundraising page:

www.facebook.com/share/p/1DgUE2uFg3

20/05/2026

🐾 Meet Alfie the 6 year-old Golden Cocker Spaniel, AKA the Ginger Ninja 🐾

Alfie is a bit of an online sensation (https://www.instagram.com/alfie__the_cocker/ has got over 10k more followers than we have 😳), but despite his star status, he loves lots of normal doggy things, like chasing squirrels at top speed through the woods, going on adventures with his crew, and having his luscious golden ears scratched.

Like any self-respecting celeb, he does have a few demands when it comes to going out and about. These include not wasting good exploring time by sitting down on benches mid-walk, avoiding cats at all costs because they are highly suspicious and insisting that his humans do all the household shopping (unless the shops in question happen to have dog treats behind their counters).

When he's not busy exploring and being a doggy influencer, Alfie can often be found hogging the wood burner, lapping up attention and refuelling on sausages whenever the opportunity arises.

We were delighted that he called in to The Red Lion for refreshments after a long walk earlier this month and we hope the gravy bones on the bar and the sausages on the dog menu will entice him back to see us again soon.

13/05/2026

🐾 Reintroducing Chica, the 10 year-old Chihuahua X Podenco 🐾

Chica is the canine rep for The Intergalactic Custom Shop and she was a star back in May 2023. Since then she has sprouted a few more grey hairs but will still behave like an excited puppy if you throw her ball for her 🥰.

This gorgeous Spanish rescue dog has always been fond of long walks, but she is gravitating towards trips to the pub (to sample the dog snacks on offer) over long hikes, now that she's in her 70s in dog years.

Chica's owners love visiting The Rollright Stones when they are out this way, but their clever canine will only walk there if she is promised some gravy bones and a spot of people watching at The Red Lion afterwards. We applaud her loyalty and obviously she is treated to lots of fuss and treats whenever she drags her owners in to see us 😁.

Rollright Stones Trust