A dining pub promising “traditional but gastro” cuisine opens next week in Oxfordshire within walking distance of Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons – with a former Manoir chef running the kitchen.

The Bat & Ball in Cuddeston is a 16th-century coaching inn that was closed down in 2023 by its previous owners, Admiral Taverns – sparking a campaign by locals bereft at the loss of the village’s only pub.

Former advertising honcho Ben Moss (right in photo) came to the rescue, buying the pub last summer. He launched the Montgomery hospitality group in 2022 with the purchase of the 15th-century Lamb Inn in nearby Little Milton, and both his pubs are close to Raymond Blanc’s Manoir in Great Milton, near the Oxford turn-off from the M40.

The refurbished the Bat & Ball has been serving drinks only for two months ahead of its full opening next Wednesday, 8 January. Chef Nat Berney (left in photo), a graduate of the Manoir’s kitchen brigade, has developed a menu of pub classics, sourcing ingredients from local suppliers including Calnan Brothers butchers in Watlington and DBF Banbury for organically grown vegetables.

Ben says, “It brings me so much joy to be bring this community pub back to life in the form of The Bat and Ball and continue our mission of creating inclusive spaces where everyone can come together and enjoy great food, drinks and hospitality.

“The pub will preserve the essence of a classic British pub, where people can either pop down for a pint with their dog in tow or indulge in a proper dining experience with serious bottles of Bordeaux.”

Nicko King, who had campaigned against the pub’s closure, has welcomed the reopening: “We’d lost a central part of our village life, and were very worried it would be yet another pub turned into a housing development.”