The Stoughton Grange Estate near Evington, Leicester

The Stoughton Grange Estate

The Stoughton Grange Estate is advertised as a new centre of ‘boutique rural commerce’, but its history goes back a long way. A book titled 1000 Years of Stoughton Grange, by Barry Lount, is available to purchase from both the Farm Shop and The Cow and Plough pub.

Barry Lount played in the fields around Evington as a child and later, with his wife Liz, entered the licensed trade. They eventually opened The Cow and Plough in 1989. Barry is also a founder member of Oadby’s local history group.

Leaving the earlier history for now, this article begins in 1913, when a large estate of 6,700 acres (approximately 10.5 square miles) was offered for sale by Warner, Sheppard and Wade, but failed to sell.

In 1919, after the First World War, the Co-operative Wholesale Society Ltd bought the bulk of the estate. With 4,600 acres, and more than 555,000 gallons of milk produced annually from 900 cows, it became one of the largest farming organisations in Great Britain. The Co-op divided the land into 12 farms of about 500 acres each: roughly half for dairy farming and half for arable farming.

This was Leicestershire’s largest farming enterprise and, managed from an office in Stoughton village, it was also one of the biggest farming concerns in Great Britain.

In 2006–07, the Co-op published a hugely unpopular plan for a 15,000-home eco-town scheme, called ‘Penbury’, on land in the Stoughton area. The plan was dropped after a two-and-a-half-year local campaign against the development. (For more detail, see evingtonecho.uk and search ‘Stoughton Grange’.)

In 2014, the Wellcome Trust (the second-highest spending charity in the UK) bought all the land from the Co-op except 300 acres, including Stoughton Farm Park, which the Co-op retained. Farmcare (under the Wellcome Trust) bought 15 main farms, about 130 residential properties and 27 commercial properties for £249 million.

The sale was intended to reduce the Co-op’s debt so it could invest in its remaining business. The Co-op reported losses of £2.5 billion in the year to April 2014 and offloaded its pharmacies business for £620 million, retaining its core operations of food retail, funeral care and insurance.

At the time, the sale was controversial, as critics feared it would mark the end of 100 years of ethical farming by the Co-op. However, the Wellcome Trust assured the public that it would be a responsible landowner. The charity focuses on human and animal health. Critics had hoped the Co-op would consider community farm buyouts as a way of securing farming in this area.

Savills (savills.co.uk) has tracked farmland prices in Britain. It reports that, from 2004 to 2014, British farmland rose in value by 277%, and arable land by 254%. In 2014, the East Midlands saw average prime arable land values reach approximately £7,840 per acre, representing a 15.2% increase in that year alone. Farmland values grew extraordinarily during this period, particularly in Leicestershire, driven by low supply and high demand. From 2024 to 2025, that growth slowed to just 1%.

From 2021 to 2022, in the post-Covid period, the future for hospitality did not look good. The Wellcome Trust had already bought the land described above, including the aerodrome fields surrounding the pub, which were sold to accommodate 300 new houses.

The Co-op then needed a buyer for the remaining Grange Estate, which consisted of the old Farmworld site and its buildings. ‘Could Steamin’ Billy Co. Ltd buy this?’ asked Barry Lount. It was originally out of their price range, so investors needed to be found to purchase the whole site, with agreements to lease back buildings and farmland to Steamin’ Billy Co. Ltd, enabling the company to run the Stoughton Grange Estate.

The irony is that Barry Lount’s great-grandfathers were imprisoned for poaching on the estate—yet he later became instrumental in purchasing land for Steamin’ Billy Co. Ltd.

Barry Lount and Bill Allingham founded around 11 or 12 gastro pubs and ale houses to serve real ales, craft beers and pub food. With the purchase of the Stoughton Grange Estate, they expanded the brewery business into a pub estate, with a strong emphasis on community and a local—often rustic—pub atmosphere. The company also has an environmental policy aimed at reducing carbon emissions.

Helen Pettman

References

• South East Leicestershire — Helen Boynton
• StoughtonGrangeEstate.co.uk
• 1000 Years of Stoughton Grange
• Evingtonecho.uk
• Savills (savills.co.uk)