Growing up in the Cotswolds, the area I lived in was of zero interest to anyone. Case in point, when I moved to London for university and everyone asked the obligatory “where are you from?” question during freshers’ week, as I began to explain “Sort of near Bath and Bristol, a bit further north, have you heard of Cirencester?” people started to glaze over.
Now, when I meet new people and I say I’m from the Cotswolds, their eyes light up – and they launch into tales of the weekend they spent at Soho Farmhouse, day-tripping to Daylesford and calling in at Clarkson’s Farm.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy my neck of the woods is getting the spotlight it deserves. For all its foibles, gentrification has served me well in some ways. As a teenager, the only coffee I could get in my local area was from the garden centre; now, almost every village has a speciality coffee spot (my top choice? Lynwood in Lechlade, or Blakes in Clanfield), and I have the celebs to thank for this in part, I’m sure. When A-listers move in, other upwardly mobile people start to take note of the area too, meaning more salubrious spots open up.
That said, the influx of celebrity neighbours (the Beckhams, Ellen DeGeneres and reportedly even Beyonce and Jay Z) isn’t ideal.
Celebrities in the Cotswolds
I could write about how A-listers moving in has driven the prices of houses up, but let’s be real – I was never, ever, in my wildest dreams going to be buying one of the properties that the likes of Simon Cowell and Claudia Winkleman live in. Fun fact, both the TV stars live in the same village as my great aunt and uncle, and they both have nothing but lovely things to say about the celebs. They also frequently run into David Beckham in the pub and say he’s always friendly – but at the first sign of attention from non-locals, he’s out of there.
So, if not the property prices being hiked up, why am I miffed about my celebrity neighbours? It’s not their penchant for making their properties ginormous (the Beckhams have reportedly riled up locals for floodlighting their home, while Oxfordshire-based Geri Halliwell-Horner irritated villagers with her plans for a spacious structure for her horses). For me, it’s the way the pubs have changed to accommodate them. Hear me out.
Pubs in the Cotswolds – and how celebrities are ruining them
Growing up, all the pubs we went to on a weekly basis (I was drinking Coke, don’t fret) were drinking pubs. You might be lucky and be able to order bar snacks – think a sausage roll or a scotch egg – but there was nothing gourmet or gastro about them.
Now, you really can’t rock up at a pub for a swift half. The low-key pubs I grew up in now demand to see details on your reservation at the bar. If you say you’re just after a drink, they look at you like you’re speaking Swahili, before muttering there might be space in the corner, if you can leave by 6.
All of my favourite drinking holes (The Wild Duck in Ewen, The Bell in Langford, The Mason’s Arm in Clanfield) are now mostly reserved for diners. They’ve forgotten their roots as a place for a casual pint and are catering instead for high-end restaurant-goers – and tourists on celeb-spotting missions.
Obviously, the main culprits of this celebrity culture are Estelle Manor (Kim Kardashian and Lewis Hamilton recently went on a date there) and Soho Farmhouse (it’d be easier to list the stars who haven’t been seen there, but the most recent visitors were Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, just this weekend), but I have no qualms with them.
Those places were purpose-built to draw in celebrities with helipads and ‘no photo’ policies. I say let the celebs keep those spots – locals can’t go anyway, unless they have a membership (don’t get me started on influencers making content about members-only places in the Cotswolds, we’ll be here all day).
Where did all the drinking pubs go?
My ire lies purely with the places that used to be quintessentially Cotswolds – and no longer exist. Unfussy pub gardens with picnic benches for crisps and quiet pints. These are few and far between now.
Call me a hypocrite for enjoying the speciality coffee scene and bemoaning the death of pubs, but again, there’s a difference here. The coffee spots are new, improvements to the area, but the loss of laidback pubs is nothing but a travesty.
With summer around the corner, I’m hopeful my local pubs will become watering holes once more, with space in their picturesque gardens for people who just want a drink. But I won’t hold my breath.
Read the full article here
