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.
It is safe to say that Russell Brand is not wildly popular in the tiny village of Pishill, where he has applied for planning permission to change the use of outbuildings of its former pub, the Crown Inn, into studios to produce his broadcasts. “He’s a scoundrel, it’s as simple as that,” said one local resident. “I can’t stand the man.”
That sentiment was echoed in more or less polite formations in Pishill this week as residents anxiously waited to see if the South Oxfordshire district council will approve Brand’s latest planning application on Friday.
Brand, who lives in a nearby village but often broadcasts from Pishill to his 6.83 million YouTube subscribers, saw an initial plan to convert the pub into a recording studio and a community space refused in February after more than 50 local objections. Residents argue the most recent iteration, which seeks a “mixed use of pub, ancillary accommodation, function room, media studio, offices”, would still leave them with nowhere to have a pint.
“No one believes he’s going to open the pub,” said Josh Robinson-Ward, who got married in the Crown’s function barn. “He’s said from the beginning he had plans to open the pub but never has and it’s unclear that he’ll have to open it if this goes through. From the off I think he thought that if he had enough money he could just do what he wants.”
Eyebrows were raised when Brand – who is being investigated by the Metropolitan police after allegations of sexual misconduct, which he denies – recently posted a video in which he declared he was “just back from Narnia” and proclaimed the value of a £180 “magical amulet” to protect wearers from wifi and other “evil energies” found in airports.
“I thought: you’ve not been to Narnia, you’re in Pishill – and can we have our pub back, please?” said his neighbour Caroline Dempsey, who described being unable to escape hearing Brand’s convoluted diatribes, especially in summer months. “There is a lot at stake if this planning application is successful: the loss of the only community asset in our village, a historic and much loved Grade II-listed pub.”
Before the planning decision, about 30 or so residents gathered in a field to express their disquiet. They argue that when the teetotal Brand bought the Crown, which had been shut since the Covid crisis, he got it at a reduced price because it was a pub. Brand did not reply to requests for comment.
“He talked about making it into a vegan restaurant, which didn’t go down too well around here,” said David Orpwood, a retired farmer. “When he goes, we’ll still be here. He’s going to bugger up the pub and we’ll be left with nothing.”
Brand’s plans have also attracted opposition from the local landed gentry. William Stonor, the eighth Lord Camoys – whose family have occupied the nearby Stonor Park since before the Norman conquest – sent a letter to the council arguing that Brand’s revised plans must only be allowed if the pub opened first. Otherwise, he argued, “the application must be refused”.
People in Pishill worry that Brand will drag out applications until they and the council give in. “He is obviously just playing the long game,” Dempsey said.
Residents accuse the council of failing to address planning violations. A spokesperson for the council said it expected to make a decision shortly, and its enforcement team would “await the outcome of this application before considering any action, if required”.
Times are hard for pubs, particularly in rural areas, with 50 pubs a month closing for good across England and Wales in the first half of this year. Freddie van Mierlo, the local Liberal Democrat MP for Henley and Thame, said the Lib Dems were pushing the council to support pubs becoming assets of community value with tax relief.
He said the Crown should be opened solely as a pub. “Pubs are not the playthings of the wealthy; they are the heart of rural communities like Pishill and Stonor, and should be protected and cherished,” he said.
For now, the garden of the Crown Inn remains overgrown. A sign reads “pub temporarily closed”, while the notice of Brand’s most recent planning application attached to railings flaps in the breeze.
“It’s a permanent temporary sign,” said Willy Watson, a neighbour. “There’s nowhere to meet around here now, and when places like this die, something in rural life dies too. It’s just another place to own, just an asset.”
