The Red Lion, Long Compton

29/09/2026

If you loved the canine party atmosphere of Dog Day and you happen to own a spaniel, you'll want to join us for Spaniel Fest in November.

We have had a lot of spaniels in The Red Lion garden over the years (like beautiful local, Dora, who modelled for us earlier in the year), but we want to see what happens when we have loads all at once.

With this in mind, we're organising a breed-specific meet up with , which will include a group dog walk from The Red Lion, a raffle in support of and training tips from our friends at Byron Dog Training.

All spaniels who attend will get a free puppuccio at the end of the walk and we're busy gathering some great raffle prizes and exclusive discount codes for attendees.
This is a free event but we need to know how many dogs and humans are coming for planning purposes, so please book via the link below:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/tails-on-the-trails-the-red-lion-spaniel-fest-tickets-1998940416596?aff=oddtdtcreator

The raffle will be cash only and tickets are just £1 a strip, so bring a handful of loose change to be in with a chance of winning a fantastic prize.

We look forward to welcoming lots of spaniels and their accompanying humans to The Red Lion garden in November 😁.

28/09/2026

We'd like to say a huge thank you to our three Dog Day photographers. All the images you see here are courtesy of Marek Jedrzejewski, but we have more to share over the coming days from the others. We think their work perfectly captures the fun we all had on Saturday, celebrating our wonderful canine companions and enjoying a bit of sausage catching in the sunshine.

Thank you to everyone who came along to the Dog Day and to all the sponsors, volunteers and supporters who helped us to pull it together. Big shout out to the weather gods too, for getting it absolutely spot on 🌞!

26/09/2026

If you are coming to Dog Day today, here are the What3Words details for the entrance to the car park:

https://w3w.co/snowy.argued.etchings

The car parking location is just opposite The Red Lion, so it's a very short walk to all the Dog Day action. Please take care crossing the road and follow the sign posted instructions to ensure that everything runs smoothly.

We are looking forward to welcoming everyone from 11am 😁🐾.

25/09/2026

24/09/2026

🐾 Who is joining us for Dog Day on Saturday? 🐾

Here's what we have in store:

😎 Long Compton's Next Dog Model competition, hosted by Lucie from Cotswold Pet Photography and Zoe from The Dog Spa Chipping Norton.

🏆 Fun Dog Show - 6 classes including the famous Sausage Catcher class. Rosettes and generous prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd

⏱ Have-a-go agility with Xavier Dog Training

🐶 Scurries competition, hosted by Byron Dog Training

☕ Soggy Spaniel dog cafe - with barista Claire, from Tails on the Trails, serving delicious puppuccinos

👧 👦 - Attractions for kids including face painting, glitter tattoos, heishi bracelets, lucky dip, colouring competition and crafting.

🥓 Barbecue serving sausage and bacon baps

🐕 Stalls including Middle Aston Pet Supplies, Cotswold Hipster , Folly & Wild and Dinky Felts

We look forward to welcoming lots of friends, both four-legged and two-legged, to Dog Day on Saturday.

With huge thanks to this year's generous sponsors and supporters:

Mobleys Meadow
Cotswold RAW
Cotswold Sweet Shoppe
The Canine Menu
Ashley Cook Flooring
Paws Through The Doors
Aubrey Allen
Bradshaw Groundworks
Daylesford Organic
Fairytale Farm
Cotswold Wildlife Park and Gardens
Cotswold Farm Park
Beauty in the Cotswolds
Hook Norton Brewery
Bay Co Designs

23/09/2026

🐾 Meet Willow the 1 year-old Sproodle and one of our newest canine locals 🐾

Willow is the latest addition to the Kench family, who are Red Lion regulars and felt compelled to bring Nat's and Dan's adoptive canine sibling to inspect her new local before they'd even taken off her temporary collar 🖤💛.

Willow has settled into life with her new family with ease. They haven't yet identified anything she doesn't like (though she is trying to convince them that kibble is an entirely unnecessary waste of bowl space and that wet food is where it's at 🤣).

Willow loves chasing tennis balls (but not bringing them back) and playing with her toys and when she's worn out she will stop for a treat and a cuddle or two. She loves going to walks round Long Compton and is currently compiling a list of her favourite hedgerows to dive into.

We loved meeting Willow when she came in with her family earlier in the month. We hope she'll embrace her role as a local, propping up the bar whilst enjoying a gravy bone or two and chatting to other dogs about the trials of trying to get humans to throw the ball more regularly or serve bigger meals more frequently 😁.

16/09/2026

🐾 This is Gino, the 5 year-old Golden Retriever 🐾

nerds among you may remember that Gino was featured in June 2025, but we didn't have any details about him, not even his name, because the piece of paper that we'd written them down on had gone missing 🙈:

https://www.facebook.com/redlionlongcomp/posts/1318842553574617

We were delighted that Gino came back to The Red Lion last week and we were able to lay the mystery to rest and discover a bit more about him.

When he's not creating intrigue on the internet, Gino can usually be found travelling, eating or playing. He particularly likes getting sleeper trains to new destinations and has travelled from London to both Inverness and Penzance in the past. We hope he got to indulge his love of swimming in both Cornwall and Scotland before returning home.

As well as being a very dapper dog in his rainbow tie, Gino is a discerning foodie, enjoying Greek yogurt and blueberries or a bowl of scrambled egg for his breakfast.

He's also quite picky about what he plays with. His favourite toys are his duck and his purple kong and he will enthusiastically chase a stick but turns his nose up at tennis balls. Whatever he is playing with will be abandoned if he is confronted with any of his pet hates, which are ovens, hairdryers, hoovers, cardboard boxes and small dogs.

We often have small dogs at The Red Lion but we hope Gino's love of visiting the pub means he'll risk encountering one or two to come and see us again. We're told that Gino is partial to singing, so maybe we need to organise a karaoke night to tempt him back??

09/09/2026

🐾 Meet Jet the 10 year-old Staffy 🐾

Jet is a rescue dog and her mum and dad were told that she make be part English Bull Terrier, but she's more than happy to be categorised as a Staffy.

Jet came to The Red Lion for lunch last week and was pleased to discover that, although she was visiting one of the most dog-friendly pubs in the Cotswolds, there weren't too many other dogs about during her time here. She's really not sure about other dogs, preferring to hang out with people, especially ones who may share their meals with her and maybe give her cuddles, as food and fuss are two of her favourite things.

Kath knew Jet would make a fantastic dog when she met her, but she had her work cut out trying to get her to stay still for her photos. These are the ones that made the cut. There are at least twice as many where she was just a wiggling blur 🤣. We hope Jet will wiggle back to see us again soon for gravy bones and cuddles.

08/09/2026

🐾 Check out the classes for the Dog Day fun dog show on Saturday 26th September!

BEST POSER - own the red carpet and pose for the camera like an Oscar winner
BEST CHILD/CANINE CRIME DUO - who creates the distraction while the other one steals your chips??
BEST OWNER LOOKALIKE - top accessories twinning or an uncanny natural likeness
BEST GOLDEN OLDIE - for dogs over 8 years old
BEST SAUSAGE CATCHER - back by popular demand for 2026!
BEST RESCUE - for dogs that have triumphed over adversity to live their best lives

We have some fantastic prizes lined up for the dog show, donated by some generous local businesses, including Cotswold RAW, pawsthroughthedoors, Xavier Dog Training, Phin & Paddle Indoor Dog Pool & Shop, Mobleys Meadow Secure Dog Field, Hoddy’s Dog Food and Mark & Tracy | luxury dog collection

£2 entry on the day and proceeds go to The Cotswold Dogs and Cats Home.

We look forward to seeing you there!

07/09/2026

✨ announces the winners of our summer holiday colouring and drawing competition ✨ Thank you to everyone who entered and congratulations to our wonderful winners.