Historic Lamb & Flag pub in Oxford now serving food from new kitchen

Until now they had have had to rely on bar snacks but now a new kitchen has been fitted at the listed pub in St Giles.

Planning restrictions have meant staff can't have fat fryers as no extraction fan is allowed so the lunchtime menu focuses on Ploughman's lunches with three different types of cheddar, soup of the day, and Baked Oxford Isis, a whole Camembert cheese with mead, thyme and walnut.

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That's the most expensive item on the menu, costing £12.

There are also fresh pastries from Gatineau in Summertown and sausage rolls are baked at the pub every day.

The pub's Facebook page says: "Our kitchen is finally opening!

"Like our beers, our food offering will showcase local produce from all over Oxford. From The Covered Market to Summertown, We’ve teamed up with some excellent suppliers.

"Come down and join us for Lunch, served Wednesday-Sunday 12 till 6pm."

The pub in St Giles, one of the city’s oldest, closed in January 2021 due to adverse trading conditions in the pandemic.

But community interest group the Inklings stepped in to take over the running of the St John’s College-owned pub, and it reopened in October last year.

Dylan Dudbridge-Hay and his wife Alice are now running the pub.

Mrs Dudbridge-Hay said: "We are delighted the new kitchen is now ready - it's been an uphill battle trying to get it done because of the listed building restrictions.

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"But we started serving food today - it's still very much a beer-orientated pub but now we can make sure drinkers don't go hungry.

"Joe Mills is our new chef and he will be working with lots of different local suppliers."

Groups can also hire out a room at the pub for coffee mornings or other meetings.

Mr Dudbridge-Hay has spent his career in hospitality, starting at St Aldate's Tavern, and then I moved to Bristol, and joined XT Brewery before working at the Rickety Press and The Up In Arms in Marston.

The Lamb & Flag is one of Oxford's oldest pubs and there was shock around the globe when it closed.

The Oxford branch of the real ale group CAMRA has backed the Inklings group's takeover.

Drinkers were delighted when the pub reopened after such a long absence.

The Eagle and Child on the other side of St Giles remains closed, but there are plans for it to reopen.

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This story was written by Andy Ffrench, he joined the team more than 20 years ago and now covers community news across Oxfordshire.

Get in touch with him by emailing: Andy.ffrench@newsquest.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter @OxMailAndyF