Staff and customers at popular Oxford city centre The Grapes are about to celebrate a year since it reopened.

The hostelry across the road from the New Theatre in George Street shut suddenly at the end of 2021 but returned a year ago after the London-based pub company run by Dick Morgan stepped in to take it over.

Manager Johnny Roberts with his team of staff reopened the pub, which dates back to the 1800s, on August 3 last year.

READ MORE: First look inside new restaurant in city 

And on Saturday they will celebrate the anniversary.

Daisy Hunt, who has been a member of the bar staff team for the past 12 months, said it had been a very enjoyable year.

(Image: Andy Ffrench)

She added: "It's a busy pub. The first month was probably the quietest and then once the students came back we got ransacked.

"I'm doing four or five shifts a week at the moment - we have a good front of house team.

"We've got a full food menu, with weekly deals, and they sell well.

"Closing time is 2am from Wednesday to Saturday and from Sunday to Tuesday we close at midnight - it's a lot of fun."

(Image: Andy Ffrench) The local branch of real ale group CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) welcomed the reopening of The Grapes, which serves some local beers.

The Morgan pub company also runs The Gardeners Arms in North Parade Avenue in North Oxford, and both pubs play their collections of vinyl records.

The Grapes is the busier pub of the two because of its prominent position in the city centre.

The George Street pub was established by 1808 and may originally have been called the Bunch of Grapes.

It was rebuilt in its present form in about 1894 and and once had 'swinging front doors likened to a Wild West saloon'.

(Image: Andy Ffrench) Bath Ales were in charge in 2012 and revamped the pub.

It was renamed Beerd Oxford in 2015. And then its name reverted back to The Grapes by August 2017 when it was given a refurbishment, and theatre photos and memorabilia were removed from the walls.

Then in 2019, West Berkshire Brewery took charge, and went ahead with a £70,000 refurbishment, improving the bar area and created new wooden booths for seating.

Those wooden booths were removed and replaced with different seating, and a new grapes pub sign went up outside when Dick Morgan took over.

Drinkers were shocked when The Grapes shut in 2021, and CAMRA representatives campaigned for it to reopen.

Staff said they were finalising their plans to celebrate the anniversary.

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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.

His Trade and Tourism newsletter is released every Saturday morning. 

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