Colourful chef-patron Paul Clerehugh has moved his entire operation to a vacant pub nearby following a disastrous fire that has closed his well-known music pub The Crooked Billet near Henley on Thames until next autumn at the earliest.
The blaze in July started in the beer cellar, destroying the kitchen and much of the interior and the roof. “Restorations will take over a year, so we’re popping up five minutes down the road,” said Paul, ahead of opening this month at The Greyhound in Rotherfield Peppard – best known for its long association with celeb chef Antony Worrall Thompson – which has been closed for 18 months.
Paul, a self-taught chef, opened the Crooked Billet in 1989, which makes it one of the country’s oldest gastropubs – a couple of years senior to The Eagle in Farringdon, which is often described as the first. He also runs the London Street Brasserie in Reading.
The Crooked Billet is also famous for its intimate music nights featuring contacts from Paul’s previous life as a guitarist in bands including the Sweet and Toy Dolls. George Harrison and more recently Nigel Kennedy have appeared there, and three live music dates have been lined up for The Greyhound in December, along with New Year’s Eve .
