Venues in Lockdown and before: THE BUCK AND BELL AT LONG ITCHINGTON
Feature
BEFORE LOCKDOWN:
Owners of this pub are Mr Peter Evans and Mrs Cheryl Evans
Pete is from the Southam area attended Wolston High School. This year it will in November be four years since they opened this pub. Long Itchington is a picturesque village with a lovely duck pond close to The Buck and Bell. Numerous other pubs are in this area too. Pete and Cheryl used to run a large campsite but find they haven't time now but they do rent out rooms to local contractors working in the area.
Before Lockdown this very community based pub were holding a monthly open mic hosted by Will Ball which attracted a lot of musicians and their followers. Outside a company set up an oven where they served to order stone baked pizzas and you could bring them inside to eat and Pete himself would buy one or two and cut them up and leave out for the customers and musicians to help themselves later in the evening. These open mics ran till quite late and always well attended.
Sunday's Pete held "Lazy Sunday" afternoon sessions where a solo artist, duet or band play from 4-30pm till 7-30 pm ish! The ish being if the band were willing to play longer and customers agreed they would carry on. A very popular afternoon with great musicians performing every week. Freshly cooked lunches served 12-30 till 6pm.
A very welcoming venue always a smile and hello when you go in and they have log burners in each room to keep it cosy even a mirror over the fire place that turns into a TV! There's a room upstairs for private parties or to play snooker or extra space for eating or somewhere just to sit and chat. Snooker tables, dart board and fruit machines and a slide in the outside area for kids and an area of seating too. Pete even let a band film a Christmas music video in the pub, they got the Christmas decorations out set it all up and brought his snow machine out too!
They had started very recently doing freshly cooked breakfast, light lunches, pastries and hot drinks from 9am till 2 pm weekdays. Plus some evenings serving fresh meals. They do allow dogs in the pub and Barney, Pete and Cheryl's dog big fluffy friendly dog who likes to check on everyone especially if he is given his own packet of mini cheddars to eat!
Before the Lockdown they held charity events and their staff also did the Wolfruns too. Always events on at Bank holidays. When there's events on Pete can be seen videoing sometimes himself :-) but usually his customers enjoying themselves and you can hear his laughter anywhere in the pub.
DURING LOCKDOWN
Like all venues they have been hit hard and so have opened up Thursdays to Sundays for people to order meals freshly cooked and collect, making sure they have social distancing set up with hand sanitizer too.
Prior to Lockdown Pete had started doing alterations inside the pub, altering the bar area so people could see from the far end where the musicians are playing. Altering upstairs and still working hard on that now. Doing most of it himself, building plastering etc.
Whilst decorating and selling take away food Pete and Cheryl set up a mini float with sponsors and drove round the village, asking locals to ring and ask if they wanted their street visited and they raised £300 for local charities who Pete thought were missing out with this pandemic on and he says to cheer the village up. He and Cheryl took food round to the local residential home too. They had a Social distancing BBQ on the same day. So they work hard in the community. Hopefully all venues will survive as a lot are selling and delivering home cooked meals to help make ends meet.
