Pub manager buys Buckinghamshire dining pub

Mark Crane, a former pub manager for a national corporate operator, has bought a new, free-of-tie lease on North Buckinghamshire dining pub the Bell Inn.

The food-led, destination country freehouse is in the village of Beachampton in the River Great Ouse Valley. Beachampton is near the Northamptonshire border and just six miles from central Milton Keynes.

The two-storey, listed property retains a number of period details such as open fireplaces and exposed beams and generates 60% of its business from food.

Facilities include a 45-seat restaurant, a 24-seat main bar, a 20-seat lounge, and a separate games and pool room.

It also offers four en-suite letting bedrooms on the first floor, self-contained flats for in two converted barns, a beer garden, a car park and a paddock.

The Milton Keynes office of Christie + Co was seeking £160,000 for the new lease, with annual rent starting at £43,200.

By Angela Frewin