The Merry Kitchen

13/03/2024

Kinda embarrassing asking again but………. The Merry Kitchen HAS BEEN NOMINATED TOO!!! Fortunately different categories so landlord and landlady not up against each other 🤣😘. The Merry Kitchen has been nominated in the best food & drink providers category!!! SOOOOOOO…….. if you have had a fabulous Merry Kitchen Feast at a wedding or an amazing little canape at a party, if one of our brilliant smiley team has topped up for fizz at a 50th, or if you just love what we do at our small business with big party plans then we would be so happy if you nominated us. Top 5 go through to the finals. Either visit Muddy Stilettos Berkshire page to vote in their awards section or click on this link to vote

I nominated my favourite business in the Muddy Awards 2024!

24/07/2023

A pretty full on weekend of catering and partying 🤣😘. 600 fabulous canapés for a very fabulous 50th, gorgeous grazing boards for 50 for a post wedding day celebration and a freezer stock up, (which I only offer if ur 96, live in ur own home in the village and are really very lovely 😘). Throw in a brilliant night dancing in a field with mates, staying way too late at the 50th party and a Sunday afternoon landlady stint, so a little bit tired on Sunday night 🤣😘.

23/07/2023

DIARY ALERT!!!!! Our first ever “Pizza at the Lion” is next Friday 28th July!!!!! We’re firing up the beast and offering a selection of 4 pizzas for you lovely lot. (It’s a bit of a trial run for our fabulous “Festival at the Lion” - 26th august, just so you know)! Serving pizzas 6pm till we sell out 😘. Booking recommended and very helpful. Ye Olde Red Lion Chieveley

12/05/2023

A fabulous feasting lunch party ready for delivery. Rare beef fillet with salsa verde, coronation & mango chicken, gorgeous hearty salads, lemon posset and thyme crumble pots, dark chocolate and sea salt tarts, roasted plums with star anise. Just add plenty of fizz, friends, families and celebrations. We can deliver to your table and leave you to party, or we can stay and serve!

09/05/2023

A very fabulous Friday night wedding tasting menu. Always held in our home, always informal and fun and always a great opportunity to taste and chat plans and nail down a few logistics! A family group of 4, who we already know well as we catered for a family wedding last year . This wedding for Georgie and Will is also at and will definitely be as gorgeous and fabulous as the last one!

26/04/2023

We are looking to recruit a weekend cleaner/housekeeper for our village pub, Ye Olde red lion in Chieveley. The role requires full pub cleaning and cleaning/housekeeping for our 5 bedrooms. General hours are 9.30am-2.00pm Saturday, Sunday and some bank holidays. Great working environment, good t&c’s, fab & friendly team. Experience essential. Please call Jo or Dougal on 01635 248379 or reply by DM.

24/04/2023

17/04/2023

Now we have a spangly new pub after our refurb, it’s time for a proper insta account! So to keep up to date on events, menus, happenings and general antics at our proper village pub please follow . This Merry kitchen account will go back to stories and posts about our fabulous feasting at weddings, parties and events! We hope you’ll love hearing about both!!!

11/03/2023

So looking forward to the wedding fair tomorrow! 11am-3pm at this gorgeous wedding and event venue. A fabulous selection of wonderful suppliers. Come and chat weddings and parties for 2023, 2024 and beyond. A hearty selection of classic MK canapés and grazing to have a taste of too! All welcome!

07/02/2023

Full time sous chef & FOH required for our busy country pub in West Berkshire. Would ideally suit couple. Occasional event work at weddings and parties also available with sister company.

We are looking for an experienced sous chef who enjoys cooking good, honest traditional pub food, alongside excellent daily changing specials, in our busy family run village pub. A full time FOH position is available alongside but not essential.

Hours for sous chef; c.45/week
Salary; c.£28-&32k depending on experience
Benefits; 20 days holiday, plus bank hol in lieu
References required.

Please message/DM for further info.

24/01/2023

Ye Olde red lion in Chieveley is recruiting! We are looking for experienced, (1-2 yrs minimum), bar staff to join the fab team at our busy country village pub. Previous bar/pub experience is essential, hours are flexible but shifts will include weekdays, evenings and weekends, references required. A great work ethic and a sense of humour are a must! Please contact Jo or Dougal on 01635 248379 or [email protected]

08/01/2023

When a rainy Saturday in January is buzzy and busy and happy from opening till closing time at Ye Olde Red Lion it makes the landlords smile! We had a big 80th birthday lunch celebration in the back bar, complete with fab balloon arch, a happy 18th lunch with friends and family in the front bar (and traditional buying of first pint for the birthday boy)! A steady stream of drenched walkers looking for a sandwich and a pint, our weekly beaters in with gun dogs, a gang of mates for a glass, which turned out to be 4, (so we could grab an hour with them), and the Chieveley Village Community Christmas tree team needing a dry out and a pint after taking down our village Christmas tree! A lazy afternoon drifted into early eve with residents and lovely locals in for family dinners, and finally plenty of footy fans in for the game on the big screen. It wasn’t what we were expecting on a miserable & dark January weekend, I hope we offered a bit of light and joy and a welcoming smile and a glass, (or 4). Thank you for your fabulous custom and for ignoring dry January!

28/12/2022

Come and celebrate NYE with us . We are fully booked for food, but plenty of room for drinking and dancing and celebrating! Our brilliant NYE band THE PLAYTHINGS are kicking off with their first set at 8.30ish, then we’ll have tunes, another live set and finally the Big Ben countdown and London fireworks on our big screen!!! It’s gonna be a cracker!!!

26/12/2022

22/11/2022

We’ve kicked off !! We’re showing ALL the World Cup games on our fab new big screen, (the landlord is very pleased with his new installation)! We reckon the England & Wales games are gonna be very loud!!! Big screen, beers and bar snacks throughout the tournament, so come and cheer on your team .

05/11/2022

autumn/winter specials are off the charts at the moment; best seller is pheasant breast with confit leg, roasted onion, cream and brandy sauce, roasted new potatoes and veg! Southern fried chicken burger is banging, homemade meatballs in tomato sauce and fettuccine is proper hearty Italian style! Starters and bar snacks are chilli chicken wings, broccoli & Stilton soup and creamy stilton stuffed woodland mushrooms! All served with a lovely glass of something! See you soon 😘😘

01/11/2022

The fabulous Chieveley Fireworks are taking place this Saturday night, always an awesome night, (tickets available on line). After the fireworks will be ready to party; mulled cider brewed, sweet chilli sausages on the bar, new autumn/winter cocktails at happy hour prices all night and OUR BRAND NEW SOUND SYSTEM BANGING OUT THE TUNES!!! Ridiculously excited!!! We’ll be ready for you from 8pm!! Bring it on CHIEVELEY!

01/11/2022

Today’s event was a farewell to a wonderful lady from our village. Family and friends came together to say goodbye, we served her favourite chocolate and raspberry brownies and everyone took away a single stem of her favourite rose from . She was a fabulous knitter and when Dylan was born she knitted him a beautiful baby blue cardigan with tractor buttons, today Dylan served the guests who had come to say goodbye to her. That is a pretty lovely village life circle. Farewell Christine.

01/10/2022

Champagne & canapés served at the fabulous gallery. An A team serving satay chicken shots, beef fillet & yorkies, chorizo & squash skewers, tuna nicoise spoons along with glasses of fizz whilst family and friends browsed the BEAUTIFUL gallery; the perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon! Compliments a plenty about the new canapés, happy with that! A venue we are approved caterers for and always a total pleasure working here!

27/09/2022

Thank you for the most gorgeous 1st anniversary mini pig tour to . Thoroughly spoilt, very chilled, full of fabulous food and cocktails and leaving with huge kitchen garden aspirations 🤣😘. You and your wonderful staff totally get it bang on every time! Also thank you to our brilliant Bristol and chieveley mates for The Pig wedding gift vouchers, you all know us so well 😘.

18/09/2022

At about this time a year ago the 7 of us were in a field, shouting “where’s Noah”, all a bit drunk, trying to light flares, all shouting and laughing and Shannon said “I can’t even see what I’m shooting but let’s hope for the best”. She’s a genuis! My fave photo ever!

18/09/2022

This day last year was about as wonderful as it gets. It’s been one helluva ride since then 🤣, and no one else I’d rather be on this crazy rollercoaster with. (Though I’m quite looking forward to stepping off for a few days)! I love you landlord ❤️.

13/09/2022

Dear all Ye Olde Red Lion customers, as a mark of respect, and in order to give our staff the opportunity to watch the state funeral, we will be closed on bank holiday Monday. We wish you all well. Dougal, Jo and the Red Lion Team.