Tewin is a bastion of English traditions with a village green, scout hut, Christmas carol concert, a local cricket club and a red telephone box. "There are people in the village that know the royal family," the barman boasted.
"People know he is in some sort of bother. But most rich people could be in bother, couldn't they?" the barman said. "We all hope he does not get extradited. Let's keep him in Tewin. God bless Mallya. I hope he comes into my pub. He can have a Bombay Sapphire on the house."
The UB Group chairman begins the first day of his extradition hearing on Monday.
"You just hear stuff about money laundering and stuff like that, that he is in a lot of trouble," a local man at the bar said. "He doesn't come here. He goes to the Plume, which has two meal deals for £10 (Rs 860). Perhaps because of his money laundering," he joked. "He invited the Plume staff to his Diwali party. They said his place was amazing and has a bowling alley, cinema room and swimming pool. He flies in a helicopter. I've heard he keeps all his classic cars underground."
The manager of the Plume of Feathers said she was under strict instructions not to speak to the press. Mallya's local pub The Horns has mounted deer heads on the wall and is the kind of place old money would choose. Mallya has clearly integrated into the upper echelons of British society. "What he does in his spare time is up to him," the manager said, leaping to his defence.
Pictures of the Hertfordshire Hunt adorn the walls of the Country Bumpkin cafe. "That Indian beer fellow is loaded, but he is very down to earth," the chef said. "He comes in here with his wife and children. He does not show off like some rich people. I know the Indian Government is after him, but we don't care. It's his life. Live and let live."
A road wound past fields of cows, sheep and horses and entered deep woodland as Mallya's estate approached.
As TOI took photos, a voice boomed through a loudspeaker "that's close enough". Swiftly a security guard appeared. "Is Mallya in?" "He is not," he replied. The lights were on and a number of expensive cars were parked in the grounds.