THE new owners of a much-loved village pub are hoping to offer a ‘home from home’ for the community.

The Red Lion, in Overton, has undergone a change of management, after Shannon and Caroline Wells announced they would be “taking a break” .

Jeremy Morey and Anthony Murray, who together run a pub in Banbury and another in Oxford, will now take over at the Red Lion and have brought in Paul Thatcher to run front of house.

Jeremy says the team are passionate about not just their new pub but the hospitality industry as a whole and are looking forward to bringing “enthusiasm and warmth” to their latest venture.

Paul added: “In Overton, especially, it’s got a really strong community and we want to tap into that and keep that going.

“So we want to be friends with everyone, we want to make sure that everyone’s happy and make them feel like they can come down here, have a coffee and relax – treat it as their living room that’s not in their living room.”

Jeremy and Anthony are directors of the Partridge pub company and run the Old Reindeer Inn, in Banbury, and the Castle, in Oxford.

The pair have been in business together since 2010 but have now returned to their roots in Hampshire, where the team are originally from.

Anthony quipped: “We wanted to expand a bit more and we thought we might as well expand down the A34.”

Paul added: “I met Jem and Ant when they had their first bar in Banbury. I was on the right side of the bar…

“I always knew what they were doing, knew they are good guys and wanted to work with them when the opportunity came up. And it did.

“So when they came to me and said the time was right I jumped at the chance.

“I wanted to come back down this way. I’ve got family in Andover now, I was born around here, my mum and my brother were born around here so I thought it would be good to get back.”

The pub will officially re-open for business on Friday, September 13, at 6pm for drinks with a family fun day with a barbecue, bouncy castle and face painting set for the Saturday.

They aim to start serving food on Tuesday, September 17.

Previous owners Shannon and Caroline will be hosting a farewell weekend at the pub starting Friday, September 6.