History...
The original part of The Red Lion pub dates from the mid 18th Century, but the earliest reference to the inn is 1730, when the then owner/licensee Richard Meriot passed away. At that time the house which was very large for a rural inn, occupied three acres of land, complete with animals, farm equipment, and was said to have six rooms. It also had a brewhouse and two cellars.
In those days the route, now known as the Leighton Buzzard Road (A4146) was the major coach route from old London Town up to the Midlands and beyond. The Red Lion would have been a coaching inn, and possibly the first overnight stop on that very long journey. The next recorded licensee was a Richard Snelling, and the pub stayed in his families hands for over 100 years.
Over the following 200 years the pub has had several extensions and modernisations, but has managed to maintain many of its original features in the old part of the building. In the middle of 2009, Oakman Inns & Restaurants, the team behind the award winning Akeman in Tring, took over the running of the Red Lion and spent time planning its most recent renovation to ensure that they combined their trademark contemporary style with the existing history of the property. The Red Lion closed in October 2009 for the renovation process and opened at the beginning of December 2009.
Peter Borg-Neal, Managing Director of Oakman Inns and Restaurants Ltd, has spent his career developing and operating public houses and restaurants. His vision for The Akeman, the first pub in the Oakman Inns & Restaurant family, was for a modern public house and restaurant that sat at the heart of the community. This meant being able to meet the requirements of the modern customer while retaining all the traditional benefits of warmth, hospitality, and comfort of a local pub. Great food and drink was another important part of this concept. The immediate success of The Akeman gave Peter the opportunity to launch a second property in the same style and in December 2008, The Old Post Office in Wallingford opened.
In 2009 the team behind The Akeman won the Publican Award for the Best Design, a very proud moment for all involved. The Akeman was also short listed as one of 4 finalists in The Publican Food & Drink Awards as Drinks Pub of the Year.
The People...
Peter Borg-Neal
Managing Director
Peter has spent his career developing and operating public houses and restaurants. He was the Founder and Managing Director of the very popular Forno Vivo Pizzerias’ in Tring and Wallingford. He previously had a corporate career with Allied Domecq and Whitbread.
Peter is a huge rugby fan and is a supporter of Tring Rugby Club, where he referees and trains the under 15’s. As well as being a lover of great food and drink, he likes to travel and is addicted to keeping his Facebook account up to date, being as he says himself, ‘a man of extremes’! He has 4 kids and a black Labrador puppy called Woody.
Fawlty Towers may be one of his favourite TV programs, but when it comes to the hospitality business Peter is a driving force in professionalism and creativity.
Raffaelo Mercurio
Operations Director
Raff has a lifetime of experience in restaurant operations. Having started his career in his native Italy, he moved to Brighton in the late 1960’s to improve his English and learn about hotel management. Once here he fell in love and he never went back.
In the mid 1970’s he decided to move from hotel management to catering and then in the late 1990’s he met Peter. In 2000, the idea of Forno Vivo was born, bringing Raff to Tring and making him the face of good hospitality here ever since.
After the sale of Forno Vivo, Raff worked very closely with Peter on the concept for the Akeman and future Oakman Inns & Restaurants properties and is now our very respected Operations Director and general Godfather! Raff has two grown-up children and two small grandchildren to keep him busy in any time he is allowed off.
© Oakman Inns & Restaurants Ltd 2009