A French bakery in Oxford city centre is to reopen after it closed suddenly.

The patisserie in the High Street close to Carfax sold French bread, cakes, pastries and coffee and closed suddenly in August.

There were no signs to indicate the closure wasn't permanent but now a sign has been placed in the window to say Paul will be reopening soon.

The notice says: "Guess what? We're reopening soon. We look forward to serving you your French favourites again."

No date for reopening has yet been given.

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The chain of bakery-café restaurants is found in 47 countries with the head office in Lille, France.

(Image: Oxford Mail) There used to be a Paul concession stand in the Westgate Centre but it closed years ago.

The chain specialises in serving breads, crêpes, sandwiches, macarons, soups, cakes, pastries, coffee, wine and beer.

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Paul is a family company currently owned by Groupe Holder, which also owned the patisserie Ladurée from 2002 to 2021.

In 2022 there were more than 750 Paul café restaurants, with 424 in France and more than 300 in 46 other countries.

(Image: Oxford Mail) Paul opened in Oxford High Street in 2014 - its first shop in the UK outside London. It has a five-star food hygiene rating.

Chief executive of Paul UK Jean-Michel Orieux said at the time: “Oxford is the ideal location for our first bakery outside London as we believe it has a wonderful balance of cultural heritage, a well-established local community and vibrant economic and tourism activity, which can clearly embrace the growth of our business.”

Paul has plenty of competition nearby, including Greggs in Cornmarket Street.

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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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