Real ale enthusiasts are celebrating the first anniversary of the reopening of the Lamb & Flag pub in Oxford.

Drinkers were stunned when St John's College, the owners of the pub in St Giles, took the difficult decision to close it during the pandemic.

But it was saved by a community interest group called the Inklings who took it over and reopened it on October 6 last year.

READ MORE: Lamb & Flag pub finally reopens

Dylan Dudbridge-Hay and his wife Alice have been running the historic hostelry, and will celebrate with customers and members of the community group this after from 2pm to 6pm.

Davie Richardson, of Oxford CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale), said: "The Lamb & Flag has had a hugely successful first year, and quickly settled down to being what the Inklings group running it always wanted - a beer drinkers' pub that welcomes all, with only the most basic of food.

"The range of ales that manager Dylan has provided is most impressive, and he has kept his promise to sell mostly local real ales and also a real cider.

"Our only regret is that due to rules set by CAMRA nationally, the Lamb & Flag had not been open for long enough to be considered for the 2024 Good Beer Guide by the deadline date when we had to put forward our choices.

Oxford Mail: "But we all know it is a top real ale pub, and will be in strong contention for inclusion in the 2025 guide."

The closure of the pub in January 2021 shocked drinkers around the globe and they called for it to be reopened as soon as possible.

It took almost two years but the pub was busy on the opening night and has been busy ever since.

READ MORE: Eviction court case looms for cafe 

"We certainly have a lot of students, many of whom never knew the old pub, but it doesn’t feel very different out of term time,” Mr Dudbridge-Hay told the Oxford Drinker magazine," last year.

“We see the same volume, but a different mix. We still get a lot of CAMRA people, mainly in the daytime, whereas students come mainly in the evenings when we sell more keg beer.

Oxford Mail: Dave Richardson of CAMRA outside the Lamb & Flag Picture by Ed Nix"But I don’t think the audience for cask and keg is split by age, although people who are less versed in beer will go for keg. Our highest seller of all is Oxford Brewery’s Prospect.”

Although Mr Dudbridge-Hay and his wife started out with a plan to serve hot food, they decided in the end to stick to bar snacks as the feedback from customers was 'focus on the beer'.

“We keep our food offering to really simple bar snacks – things that go well with beer,” said Mr Dudbridge-Hay earlier.

“In the old Lamb & Flag beer was always the big seller, and we didn’t want to lose sight of that. People come in to drink, not for food, but if you’re hungry we offer something to nibble on."

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About the author 

Andy is the Trade and Tourism reporter for the Oxford Mail and you can sign up to his newsletters for free here. 

He joined the team more than 20 years ago and he covers community news across Oxfordshire.

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