Red Lion Roars Again
Farewell Pete and Sue, we're devastated! We are reprinting this article from Cambridge and District's Autumn edition of the Ale Magazine (many thanks) as a tribute to their all too short tenancy, we couldn't have put things better. Well, not much!
FOR MANY YEARS NOW I've paid occasional visits to the Red Lion Swaffham Prior and one word always sprung instantly to mind - potential. It occupies a lovely seventeenth century building with low ceilings and masses of beams and exposed brickwork, all overlooked by the towers of the village's two churches.
That potential is finally being realised. Firstly owners Churchill Taverns went belly up and the Clear Pub Company took over. They installed experienced licensees Peter Butler and Sue Gilliband who arrived in June, having previously been at the Good Beer Guide - listed Woolpack in St Neots.
Peter is a self-confessed real ale nut and has a completely free hand as to which beers he can order. Currently he has four handpumps selling Greene King IPA, Woodforde's Wherry and two changing guests (St Austell Tribute and Everards Tiger when we called). Two more pumps are on order and Peter intends to sell a real mild (probably Woodforde's excellent Mardler) and a real cider. He's also in touch with local micros like Potton and Buntingford and the latter's Western Viscount was limbering up in the cellar.
The passion for beer extends to the food as Sue loves to cook with it. The menu includes beer-battered cod and chips (Wherry is apparently excellent for batter) and Steak and Ale pie. Sue tries to source as much food locally as she can hence the Bottisham smoked ham; most meat comes from the butcher in Burwell and bread from local firm GI.
(Doh no, Ale Magazine! You mean GI bread from Burwell's Lanes, plus Lanes' delightful organic bread made from flour milled at our very own working Swaffham Prior windmill. Also, local-hunt pheasant with locally picked blackberries...as we said, we're devastated. Eds).
The Red Lion has an L-shaped main bar with a slightly separate dining area at one end. To the right of the entrance is a small games-oriented room (the crib team has just won the pairs at Newmarket). There are two wood-burning stoves which will no doubt be in action by now unless summer has finally arrived. Behind the car park is a massive sloping garden leading up to the churchyard and next year Peter hopes to erect a marquee there for a beer festival.
So - why two churches in such a small village? Well, until a little while ago (1086) St Mary's and St Cyriac's served separate parishes. At the dissolution, the tithes from one passed to the Bishop of Ely and from the other to the Dean and Chapter of the Cathedral so both were worth keeping going for purely mercenary reasons. St Cyriac's is no longer consecrated but is still used for various events. Well worth a visit especially with the prospect of a great pint over the churchyard wall.