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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
National
Alexandra Topping

A pint of bitterness: villagers resent Russell Brand’s plans for their pub

Locals Willy Watson, Josh Robinson-Ward, Caroline Dempsey and Marnie Watson outside the pub.
Local people Willy Watson, Josh Robinson-Ward, Caroline Dempsey and Marnie Watson outside the pub. Photograph: Sean Smith/The Guardian

On a crisp October day in rural Oxfordshire, sunlight streams through the autumn leaves along a winding country lane. A stubby 4x4 rumbles past laden with freshly shot pheasant, and a red kite circles overhead.

It is an idyllic, quintessentially English scene, but rake the surface and the embers of a fierce local row soon spark into life. On one side, people determined not to lose an 800-year-old pub; on the other, a magic amulet-toting, born-again Christian broadcasting “alt-right” views to the world from its environs.

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