Russell Brand embroiled in Oxfordshire country pub battle

The 49-year-old purchased an 800-year-old pub The Crown in the village of Pishill in 2020 which is just a mile away from Stonor.

Mr Brand, who is being investigated by the Metropolitan Police after allegations of historical sexual misconduct which he denies, annoyed locals with his initial plans for the pub.

He had tried to gain permission to convert the historic watering hole into a recording studio and offices but this was met with objections and the proposal was dismissed.

Russell Brand's The Crown in Pishill, Oxfordshire. (Image: SWNS)

The entertainer has since tried again with the idea that the spot could be used as a pub as well as a media studio and offices with a function room.

Yet these ambitions have not won over Grylls's Eton College contemporary William Stonor, 8th Lord Camoys, of Stonor Park.

This is the Oxfordshire family seat which successive generations of Stonors have occupied since before the Norman Conquest.

Lord Camoys has sent a letter to the local council objecting to Mr Brand’s plans given that when the actor first purchased the pub, he did so with the promise “to keep the pub open”.

The 50-year-old adds that since then Mr Brand has “made no attempt to re-open it” so any future revised plans must see the pub being “marketed and let on such terms as would facilitate its long-term use as a public house”.

Lord Camoys then said that any application “must be refused” if this is not the case for the Grade II listed building.