Red Lion at Whittlesford Bridge re-opens

Strange day last week - spent the morning doing some work with the Ministry of Defence in London (I'd tell you more but then I'd have to kill you). Then after full Council meeting in the afternoon and a session with planning agents till eight, rushed back to catch the last hour of the grand re-opening of the Red Lion Hotel at Whittlesford Bridge with their new reatuarant area, which looks pretty good, and we intend to check it out properly soon.
The guest of honour - keeping the links up between the Red Lion and the Imperial War Museum at Duxford - was Cpl Johnson Beharry VC, looking very cool and in control. You don't often get to shake hands with a man who has won the VC.
I know some people don't like the scale of the hotel that has been built on the site, but I've always taken the view that if the Red Lion didn't move forward it would have closed and been boarded up within a couple of years. And the district conservation team worked closely with the owners to blend the new with the historic buildings.