A NEW and unique burrito restaurant named in tribute to its former owner who died suddenly this year has officially opened in Oxford.

Big Ron’s Burrito Shack opened to the public on Cowley Road yesterday [Friday. August 7] at noon, following a soft launch party on Thursday night.

Owned by one of the founders of popular Atomic Burger and Atomic Pizza, James Reilly, the shack was launched in memory of his business partner Martin Bunce who died earlier this year.

Mr Reilly, 38, said: “Martin was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in October last year and then died in February, so it was very fast. He was a well-known character.

“His full name was Martin Peter Ronald Bunce and he hated it, and never wanted anyone knowing that. So we’ve named it Big Ron’s in tribute.”

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Mr Bunce died age 42. He and Mr Reilly, from Wolvercote, met through working at a north Oxford restaurant in 2008.

Mr Reilly said: “He was best man at my wedding and was going to be godfather to my youngest son Cameron, who is nine months.”

Big Ron’s Burrito Shack is based at 96 Cowley Road, where the first ever Atomic Burger was opened in 2009. At the start of the year Mr Reilly and Mr Bunce moved Atomic Burger a few doors up to a building double the size at number 92.

The businessman added: “We always knew we wanted to do something with the original site but we weren’t sure what. We have burgers and pizzas so what next? It’s all about doing something interesting, fun and original.”

Mr Reilly, with his team of staff, builders, wife Jessica and 10-year-old son Jacob, had spent six weeks preparing the interior of Big Ron’s ahead of yesterday’s opening.

He said: “It’s an actual shack. We stripped the walls back to bare brick and covered them in reclaimed pallet wood. The ceiling is covered in corrugated iron and the tables are made from scaffolding.

“We have tropical wood doors from Corpus Christi College from the 1960s, an Aztec motif on one wall and tequila-themed wallpaper.”

The team has also spent the past six months slow cooking 60 kilos of beef in different ways, to see which tastes best in a burrito.

Mr Reilly thought his business partner Martin would have been proud had he been there to see the finished restaurant. He joked: “I hear his voice behind my shoulder saying ‘ooh not sure about that’. He is very much here with me.”