Russell Brands pub locked up as comic remains at centre of sexual allegations

Metal fencing has appeared outside Russell Brand’s country pub the day after sexual assault allegations were made against him, according to an eyewitness.

A person who passed the Crown Inn at Pishill, to the north of Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, said the building appeared “locked down” today (Sunday).

An eyewitness claimed: “As we drove past this morning, they were putting up a hessian covering. It was like a sack covering across the front.

“It felt locked down. When we slowed down to look, the man putting it up stopped to look at us. I saw three security men in hi-vis behind. There were lots of people inside the building as well – about half a dozen.”

It’s reported the Grade II Listed Oxfordshire pub has been closed since it was purchased by Brand.

The 48-year-old has been accused of rape, sexual assault and emotional abuse at the height of his fame, between 2006 and 2013, in an investigation by The Sunday Times and Channel 4’s Dispatches programme, the latter of which was aired last night hours after Brand performed his solo comedy show on stage in London.

Brand vehemently denies all the allegations made against him saying he “absolutely refuted” the claims put to him by The Sunday Times and Channel 4 in their investigation.

At the 15th century pub Brand has previously applied to create a recording studio. He is believed to have bought the property for £850k. It is believed he plans to record videos there for his YouTube channel, on which he has 6.6m subscribers.

Planning documents submitted last September said the intention “was to re-open the public house in due course”.

The documents continued: “In the meantime, it is being occupied in part by staff working on a freelance basis for the applicant.

“Delivery of the new studio will mean that the production staff can be relocated to it and that plans for re-opening the public house can be driven forward.”

Allegations from four women against Brand were made in a 90-minute Channel 4 Dispatches film, which also saw other women speak of their experiences working with Brand on TV sets, including his former personal assistant Helen Berger, who called him a “narcissist”.

As the film aired last night, Brand appeared as scheduled at the 2,000-capacity Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre in north-west London to perform a sold-out comedy gig.

While not directly addressing the allegations, audience members said that Brand said he hoped they could “appreciate” there were things he could not talk about during the set.

In a video statement, posted online ahead of the publication of the claims, Brand claimed he was facing a “litany of extremely egregious and aggressive attacks”.

He continued: “These allegations pertain to the time when I was working in the mainstream, when I was in the newspapers all the time, when I was in the movies and, as I have written about extensively in my books, I was very, very promiscuous.

“Now, during that time of promiscuity the relationships I had were absolutely, always consensual. I was always transparent about that then, almost too transparent, and I am being transparent about it now as well.

“To see that transparency metastasised into something criminal, that I absolutely deny, makes me question is there another agenda at play.”

Express.co.uk have approached South Oxfordshire District Council for comment. 

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