The Sir Charles Napier Inn (commonly known as the Sir Charles Napier or simply the Charles Napier) is a gastropub

Gastropub

Gastropub or Gastrolounge refers to a bar and restaurant that serves high-end beer and food.The term gastropub, a portmanteau of gastronomy and pub, originated in England in the late 20th century. English pubs were drinking establishments and little emphasis was placed on the serving of food. If...

 in Spriggs Alley about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) south of Chinnor

Chinnor

Chinnor is a village and civil parish in South Oxfordshire about southeast of Thame. The village is a Spring line settlement on the Icknield Way below the Chiltern escarpment...

, Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It was built in the 18th century and is named after Sir Charles Napier

Charles Napier

Charles Napier may refer to:*Charles Elers Napier , British naval officer*Sir Charles James Napier , British general*Sir Charles Napier , Scottish admiral of the Royal Navy...

.

As of 2002 its proprietor for 35 years had been Julie Griffiths. Wine journalist Jancis Robinson

Jancis Robinson

Jancis Mary Robinson OBE, MW is a British wine critic, journalist and editor of wine literature. She currently writes a weekly column for the Financial Times, and writes for her website jancisrobinson.com...

 has considered it to be one of several country pubs that has "outshone" city pubs. Others have termed it "the godfather of the gastro-pub revolution". It has been frequented by Ted Hughes

Ted Hughes

Edward James Hughes OM , more commonly known as Ted Hughes, was an English poet and children's writer. Critics routinely rank him as one of the best poets of his generation. Hughes was British Poet Laureate from 1984 until his death.Hughes was married to American poet Sylvia Plath, from 1956 until...

 and John Mortimer

John Mortimer

Sir John Clifford Mortimer, CBE, QC was a British barrister, dramatist, screenwriter and author.-Early life:...

.

History of the business

Kaye Griffiths' family had been farmers in Chinnor for two generations. His father bought the pub, which abuts the family's land, in the 1960s for £4,000, and put Kaye's wife, Julie, whose parents had been in the hotel trade, in charge.

Initially the cook was Kaye, although he was later replaced with a chef named Batiste from Sardinia

Sardinia

Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...

, who remained chef for 19 years. In the middle 1990s Kaye became estranged from Julie, and in 1996 he renovated and moved into a cowshed

Shed

A shed is typically a simple, single-storey structure in a back garden or on an allotment that is used for storage, hobbies, or as a workshop....

near to the Inn with his son, transferring his interest in the business to his wife. In 2002 Kaye was fined for the renovation and ordered to demolish the cowshed.

For 10 years the restaurant was run by Stan Parkes, who was then replaced in 1987 by Caroline, Julie's daughter.

External links

• Sir Charles Napier Inn website