The Red Lion (Lancs)

The Red Lion, located in Wheelton, Lancashire says on Trip Advisor “We pride ourselves on being a warm and sociable pub, welcoming to all the general public”. That includes the Holcombe Harriers (Hunt) who saw in Boxing Day down the road at the Railway Inn, and came to the Red Lion for its New Year meet. We know this thanks to a puff piece in the Lancashire Telegraph where Master of the Hunt, Sue Simmons, was allowed to go unquestioned when she played ‘hunt bingo’ and rattled off ‘trail hunting’, ‘modern’ ‘law abiding’ ‘sport’ and ‘tradition’ in quick succession. The BTL comments told a more nuanced story, and included “Once again the Lancashire Telegraph publishing the lies of the Holcombe Hunt without ANY balance from opposing groups.” Curiously, above what seems to be an only occasionally updated homepage is a beaming picture of what is (presumably) the pub’s landlord with a branded Red Lion pint of beer. Nothing wrong with any of that at all of course, but the same man (presumably the landlord etc) was also photographed in 2022 with a rotund gentleman from (again) the Holcombe Hunt who has just nipped up from the nearby Dressers Arms and a gallop around the fields before disappearing again. The same person in charge would signify – to us at least – an unbroken support for hunting. If we’ve got that wrong, please let us know…