Russell Brand sparks local fury with plan to turn pub into vegan restaurant

The comedian, actor and podcaster has provoked the ire of locals in the Oxfordshire hamlet of Pishill with his reported plans to turn the local boozer he bought into a vegan restaurant.

Brand bought The Crown Inn in late 2021 for a reported £850,000, but the Grade II listed pub had been shut since the March 2020 lockdown. However, regulars who had become used to Sunday roasts and pork scratchings may be in for a bit of a shock when it reopens.

Brand announced in 2011 that he and then-wife Katy Perry had decided to pursue plant-based diets after watching the documentary Forks Over Knives. Though the marriage ended the following year, he took up veganism once again in 2019 and has remained committed to the lifestyle ever since. He has also been teetotal since 2003 having had a history of addiction before then.

Former patrons have expressed their dismay to The Sun at his reported decision to have an exclusively vegan menu:

“He clearly never had any intention of using the pub as a pub”.

“He doesn’t even drink alcohol. Why buy a pub if you don’t like drink?”

It is unknown if alcohol will also be off the menu.

He has already hosted events in the grounds of the pub and it is reported that he wishes to build a recording/filming studio on the site. Brand’s YouTube channel has 5.89 million subscribers and he uses it as a platform to share theories concerning everything from vaccines and lockdowns to Bill Gates and Donald Trump.

One local resident expressed concern that the presence of production staff for what some might refer to as conspiracy videos would cause a shortage of parking spaces.

PETA has not commented on the proposed all-vegan eatery, though it did try to push one of Britain’s oldest pubs to take meat off the menu after it reopened earlier this year.

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