About The Lion
Within living memory, Ickleton had six pubs, sadly, they closed one by one until only The Ickleton Lion remained. In July 2023, it too closed its doors and Green King put it up for sale. Desperate not to lose it’s last pub, villagers came together and Ickleton Community Pub Limited was formed to save the building and get the pub open again, this time as a community owned freehouse.
Within 10 weeks of launching the project, 415 investors stumped up £441,000 to enable ICP limited to buy and refurbish the pub. Over the next few months we raised over £15,000 through fundraising events and secured £103,000 in grants.
In December 2024, we finally got the keys. We then had the task of turning a tired and neglected building back into an operating business.With the help of over 120 volunteers, who together donated over 3,000 hours of their time to help with design, carpentry, electrics, painting and decorating, gardening, cleaning and much, much more, we transformed our historic site into a beautiful community pub.
Thanks to our brilliant volunteers, plus wonderfully supportive local companies, tradesmen and fabulous grant funders, we been able to get back to the business of pulling pints in less than a year.
We celebrate everyone who helped us on our ‘Lion Heroes’ page.
The pub was first recorded as the Lion in 1728, as The Red Lion from 1800 onwards and re-named again as The Ickleton Lion in the 1980’s. In order to mark its return to a freehouse, the pub will now be known as ‘The Lion at Ickleton.’
During WWII, U.S. airmen were frequent visitors, remembered fondly (and mischievously) by local children who would promise not to tinker with the bikes in return for lemonade or a packet of crisps. RAF legend Douglas Bader himself is even said to have drunk there during his posting to nearby Duxford in 1940.
The pub also has a connection to Spurs; John Ripsher (1840–1907), the first President of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, had strong roots in Ickleton. His grandfather Swann Ripsher was a farmer in the village and John was the half-nephew of William andRebecca Ripsher, both Ickletonians and former publicans of theThe Lion.
We are thrilled that the Lion will continue to remain at the heart of village life, welcoming locals and visitors alike for generations to come–please pop in and see us!
Grants and Funding
We have been lucky to have been awarded some wonderful grants to help with the cost of both purchasing and refit of The Lion.
Net Zero Villages is a grant provided by the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority, with supplementary funds contributed by South Cambridgeshire District Council. Grant awards support the decarbonisation of community assets in rural villages.
Thalia WB Community Fund awards grants to support community, environmental and heritage projects run by non-profit organisations based in Cambridgeshire, within 10 miles of a landfill site. The fund is managed by Cambridgeshire Community Foundation and is part of a voluntary environmental tax credit scheme called the Landfill Communities Fund.
South Cambridgeshire District Council also awarded a Community Chest grant under the biodiversity section to help bring the pub garden back to life.
We are grateful to Plunkett UK for their invaluable support, made possible through funding from the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA). With CPCA’s backing, we received both a feasibility grant and a capital grant, which were vital in helping us secure The Lion for the community.
Our community cafe would not have been possible without the advice and support of Pub is The Hub, the rural and community pubs organisation.
