Our history...

The Pink & Lily dates back to the 1800s. Initially a family home, built in the 1700s, it became a pub early in the 1800s. A butler at Hampden House (Mr Pink) became romantically involved with a chambermaid (Miss Lillie) and she fell pregnant - out of wedlock, they were shunned by the Hampden family and were forced to move out. They set up locally in a hostelry and in 1833 Miss Lillie gave birth to a son, who went on to become the first registered landlord of the Pink & Lily (the son named the pub after his parents). The pub is affectionately known by the locals as 'The Pink'.

The other famous historical connection is with the 1st World War Poet Rupert Brooke (1887-1915), who is most famous for 'The Soldier' with the immortal line:

"If I should die, think only this of me: that there's some corner of a foreign field that is forever England".

Rupert died a young man of 27, as a soldier on the Greek island of Skyros. Rupert Brooke's work is now part of the English Literature A-Level syllabus. The connection to the Pink & Lily? It was purely by chance that Rupert first happened upon the pub on a summer's day whilst walking in one of his favourite locations, the Chilterns. After his initial visit to the pub he became quite the 'regular' and often enlisted the help of a companion to share the hospitality on offer at his new found 'secret watering hole'. It was on one of these occasions that he brought along his good friend Jacques Raverat, also a young man in his 20's and already an artist of note. During a typically merry and warm-hearted lunch Rupert, with help from Jacques, decided to immortalize the pub in verse and so wrote:

Never came there to the Pink
Two men such as we, I think
Never came there to the Lily
Two men quite so rich and silly

The verse continues about life and their own good fortunes and then comes to an end with the lines:

Were ever two so fierce and strong
Who drank so deep and laughed so long
So proudly meek, so humbly proud
Who walked so far, and sang so loud

The combination of this great heritage and location, provide the ideal setting for a business that provides great quality pub dining in a traditional pub environment.