The White Hart pub wins Oxford Mail Best Pub 2022 title

A shortlist of 10 pubs across Oxfordshire was drawn up and readers were asked to nominate their favourite using a coupon in the paper.

The friendly community pub in St Andrew’s - a short distance away from neighbouring hostelry The Black Boy - is run by Dan Smaje and his wife Carole.

READ MORE: Woman credits her dog for 'sniffing out' her breast cancer

After winning by almost 500 votes, Mr Smaje said: “We’re really pleased, absolutely over the moon and really chuffed.

“It’s all down to the staff and the team we have, they are the ones that make the pub. We’re also really pleased because it’s the public that voted for it and that makes it really special.

“We want to say thank you to the people who took the time to vote for us. It’s really nice to get this recognition because there are so many nice pubs in Oxfordshire so to win it makes it all more the special.

“We will definitely be having some drinks to celebrate and I’m sure we’ll also have a few with out regulars.”

The pub, owned by Everards, has been listed in the Good Beer Guide for nine consecutive years and was awarded the Oxford CAMRA Pub of the Year in 2014 and 2017.

READ MORE: HUGE outdoor cinema coming to Oxfordshire

Owners Dan and Carole Smaje with staff outside the winning Headington pub.

It has seven different beers and ciders on hand pumps, as well as a good selection of draught and bottled beers.

Mr Smaje and his wife have been running The White Hart for the past 14 years.

In second place was The Victoria Arms in Mill Lane, Oxford, and in third place was The Brewery Tap in Ock Street, Abingdon.

The competition is a way of highlighting the county’s excellent pubs at a time when the hospitality industry is under pressure following the pandemic, and as a result of increasing cost of living pressures.

The total number of pubs in the country dropped below 40,000 during the first half of 2022, a fall of more than 7,000 compared with a decade ago, according to the latest research.

Researchers have suggested that while pubs managed to battle through Covid-19, they now face a fresh challenge because of record-high inflation and an energy crisis.

The pubs competition follows the contest to find Oxford Mail Best Cafe 2022.

READ MORE: Parking could be BANNED on roads outside homes

Once the votes were cast, the winner was Colombia Coffee Roasters, which has a cafe in the Covered Market and another branch in Banbury Road, Summertown.

The Banbury Road cafe came second, while Restore’s garden cafe off Cowley Road was third.

-

Read more from this author

This story was written by Gee Harland. She joined the team in 2022 as a senior multimedia reporter.

Gee covers Wallingford, Wantage and Didcot.

Get in touch with her by emailing: Gee.harland@newsquest.co.uk

Follow her on Twitter @Geeharland

A message from our Editor

Thank you for reading this story and supporting the Oxford Mail.

If you like what we do please consider getting a subscription for the Oxford Mail and in return we’ll give you unrestricted access with less adverts across our website from the latest news, investigations, features, and sport.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tik Tok for more. 

You can also join the conversation in our Facebook groups: stay ahead of traffic alerts here, keep up to date with the latest from court here, share your favourite memories of Oxford here, get your daily dose of celebrity news here and take some time out with news that will make you smile. 

If you’ve got a story for our reporters, send us your news here. You can also list an event for free here.