The fantastic Red Lion is now OPEN

It is set in the beautiful village of Milton Bryan, backing onto the ground of Woburn Abbey

A bit of history...In 1927 the Red Lion was valued for rates under the 1925 Valuation Act. At the time it consisted of a bar, tap room, smoke room, tea room, kitchen, scullery and dairy downstairs, with a cellar beneath. Upstairs were four bedrooms and outside were a coachhouse, stable and barn. The beer consisted of two eighteen gallon barrels on tap, two on pull and a further nine gallon barrel on tap. In a week the house sold just over half a barrel of mild, 4 and a half gallons of bitter and an eighth of a gallon of spirits, however, the valuer noted "Got trade from Mr.L[each] who was very doubtful about the figures. If necessary verify". Rent was £35 per annum, which was high in comparison with other public houses in the district

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 The first mention of the Red Lion public house in a document in Bedfordshire & Luton Archives & Records Service is in 1886 though the documentation refers to incidents in 1823. In that year the publican Thomas Paxton died. He was related to Joseph Paxton, designer of the Crystal Palace and interestingly at the time of Thomas's death most of his estate was noted as credits for beer sold to men labouring on the new fish ponds at Battlesden House - Joseph's first public commission. Thomas was an old man who had married a young Irish woman, a cook at Milton Bryan Manor, who appeared to be carrying on an affair with one Pilpot or Philpot, a carpenter who was in debt to Thomas. Thomas Paxton ran a small drapery business as well as the Red Lion and after his death Philpot took both over and made a failure of them. Some years later, one of Thomas Paxton's daughters unsuccessfully pressed for money she claimed had been left by Thomas' estate which was, in fact, insolvent from shortly after the time of his death.

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