The Black Boy in Milton has a new claim to fame to add to its considerable history. This delightful village pub in the tiny hamlet of Milton (the one in North Oxfordshire and not the Milton near Abingdon) has a wonderfully politically incorrect name and long may it thrive which seems likely now that Marco Pierre-White has gone and it is being well looked after by the new owners, Pete and Catriona.
Their latest claim to fame is a visit on Saturday June 20th from Cam and Sam; yes, the Prime Minister and his wife who popped in for some lunch and, by all accounts, enjoyed
themselves. Pete is clearly very chuffed and telling his customers about his surprise guests. Catriona is a little more circumspect, fearing her Scottish accent might have led the PM to suspect she is a closet SNP voter! Anyway, it has to be good news for my local and who knows how many other members of the Chipping Norton set might appear. Could we be seeing Jeremy Clarkson, Rebekah Brooks, Steve Hilton and Elisabeth Murdoch? Would we want to? Probably not if we saw a return to the style of Marco but I think this is unlikely with Pete and Catriona who are turning the Black Boy back into a great village pub with good drinks and good food.
Previous claims to fame are many and varied:
- One landlord mortgaged the pub up to the hilt to pay for improvements shortly before Black Wednesday when interest rates rocketed and he found himself wholly unable to meet the loan repayments. He walked away from the pub leaving a selection of sharp knives for the bankers on his bar!
- A Black Boy landlady had a boyfriend who walked off with our MP’s wife, leaving her to run the Black Boy on her own and leaving our MP, Tony Baldry, bereft.
- Another landlord tried for planning permission to sell the pub car park for housing, When the villagers of Milton found out, he was lucky not to be strung up from the pub sign but hastily returned to the east end of London whence he came.
- And lately, we had Marco Pierre-White who tried very hard to wreck this delightful pub and who comprehensively upset residents of Milton and many of the villagers around. Thankfully, Pete and Catriona are undoing the harm he did.