Botley Road is kebab central after new Station Grill diner opens

Now, just off Oxford’s Botley Road, there is a minor insurgency being played out in the catering trade, although until now the hot competition has taken place quite peacefully.

Sandwich bar Got 2 Eat, formerly Mick’s Cafe, has been bought out and is now trading as Station Grill.

Its owners are from Kurdistan, while just yards away Turkish owners run the long-established Botley Kebab Van.

With both businesses selling kebabs, it may not be long before there are a few heated exchanges.

But Dana Hussain, 31, who runs Station Grill with business partner Heman Abdul Karim, said any rivalry between the two food premises would remain friendly.

He added: “We have taken over the lease for 12 months from Got 2 Eat and we will see how it goes.

“Everyone know Botley Kebab Van and the owners are not entirely happy about our arrival but I think we can work alongside each other.

“We have invested £20,000 to refurbish the inside of the cafe and we need to make some return on that investment.

“We would like to offer some outdoor seating at some point I think we need permission from the council.”

Station Grill is selling kebabs, mixed kebabs, burgers, wraps and chips.

Monday to Thursday it opens 12 noon to midnight, 3pm to 3am on Friday and Saturday and 12 noon to midnight on Sunday.

Mr Hussain said he has lots of experience in the catering trade, having run Posh Nosh in Abingdon for eight years.

He has also run a takeaway business in Southampton.

He added: “We got into trouble when we tried to call it Royal Grill so we had to call it Regal Grill instead.

“This time we thought we would keep it simple and go for the name Station Grill.”

No one from Botley Kebab was available for comment.

Got 2 Eat had a five-star food hygiene rating dating from August 2017 but the owners of Station Grill can expect council staff to conduct an inspection before issuing an up-to-date hygiene rating.

Botley Kebab Van has a five-star food hygiene rating dating from March.

A report from August said health inspectors from Oxford City Council were left with ‘no choice’ but to award Botley Kebab one star, the second lowest rating possible - meaning ‘major improvement necessary’ - after finding the takeaway had ignored advice about legally required checks.

But in March five stars were awarded following a fresh visit by the local authority’s hygiene team.

The five-star rating is the highest score possible, which means standards are judged to be ‘very good’.

In the three categories that make up the overall score, food and hygiene was found to be ‘good’, as was confidence in management.

Mick Harris ran Mick’s Cafe serving cooked breakfasts for 27 years until it closed in 2013, despite attempts to keep it open. Got 2 Eat opened in 2017.