A "heaving" Glastonbury pub rumoured to be where Banksy drinks sells £55 bottles of champagne and has stuffed squirrels as decor.
Locals in a picturesque village say it's been “heaving” since re-opening after a £1m refurb, with some claiming Banksy invested in the project. Reports suggest the anonymous graffiti artist is part of a group who invested the seven-figure sum in The Crown in Pilton, near Glastonbury, last year.
Owain Powell - who currently runs the pub with partner Rowena Draper - has denied Banksy was involved. But locals in the sleepy village claim the pub has never been busier since it re-opened in November last year - with one saying Banksy is rumoured to have a house nearby.
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One of the pub's kitchen porters said it is also a favourite haunt of Glastonbury founder Michael Eavis. The kookily-decorated pub — which has no Banksy artwork on display — features hanging plants, a pub garden and stuffed squirrel in a glass case playing pool.
It boasts an upmarket menu where punters are charged £18 for beef roast dinner, £16 for a beef burger and chips and £15 for haddock and chips. A sauce dip comes in at £3 while extra chips are £4. A pint to wash it all down can cost between £4.40 for Pravha and £5.60 for a hipster American Pale Ale brewed in Bristol, while cocktails are £9 a pop and it is £18.95 for the cheapest bottle of wine, a Pinot Grigio.
Those looking to splash the cash can splurge £55 on a bottle of Domaine Sarcey champagne, and the bar snack offering includes homemade fennel pork scratchings for £4. Pat Sumner, 40, has lived in Pilton since 1985 and works as a porter at the pub, which he claims is a Sunday roast favourite of Mr Eavis.
He said: “I’m only a kitchen porter, cleaning pots, but the bloke who runs it as I understand it is called Owain. It’s always busy because there is always something going on in the pub.
“There is a comedy night, folk night yesterday, open mic night once a month, general gigs in the big function room. There are always parties. Michael Eavis goes in for a roast dinner, though I have not seen him in ages.
“The food’s good. I don’t cook any of it though, but I get the credit because I look like part of the kitchen crew.”
Pressed on the reports of Banksy’s involvement, Mr Sumner simply said: “Pilton is full of rumours. I’ve lived here since 1985 and I can tell you that you hear so much different stuff.”
Another local, who asked not to be named, said there were rumours that Banksy owned a house nearby.
He said: "I have heard Banksy has a house in the area but I don't know anything else on that."
A retired woman who has lived in Pilton since the 1990s said the Eavis' had invested a lot of money in the area and the pub was much more friendly than before.
She said: “I’ve been in there a couple of times and it’s nice and friendly. It used to be much more unfriendly, with two people stood at the bar who would turn around and stare at you when you walked in. But the first time we went in there after it re-opened it was heaving with locals.
“I would say it’s reasonably priced. It’s not a cheap pub - you wouldn’t go there for egg and chips because that isn’t what they are doing. There is lots going on in the village. Eavis has sponsored a lot of things and I would say it is a very active village in lots of ways.”
An elderly man who has lived in Pilton for more than 40 years added that the renovations have dramatically changed the pub. He said he had not seen Banksy in there.
He said: “It wasn’t open at all for a long time before last year. It was more of a village pub before and more homely. I was a bit disappointed when I went in there the first time, it used to be more traditional.
“The food was good when I went in there. It’s hit and miss with how busy it is. Sometimes it has been busy and sometimes not.”
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