Scaffolding has now gone up at one of Oxford's most famous pubs - before works starts to renovate it.

The Eagle and Child in St Giles, renowned for its links with fantasy writers JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis, closed in March 2020 and has not reopened since.

Now new owners, American science company the Ellison Institute, are moving ahead with plans to revamp it, and expect to welcome customers again in 2027.

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In October last year, the institute, established in Los Angeles by billionaire Larry Ellison, announced plans for a new laboratory campus at Oxford Science Park. At the same time it bought the Eagle and Child.

Scaffolding is now in place around the pub, so that contractors can ensure that the roof is not letting in water, in advance of renovation work.

Matt Abney, senior director of real estate and special projects for EIT, said earlier: "We plan to be erecting scaffolding at the building before the end of the year to better protect it from further decline."

(Image: Andy Ffrench) Architects Norman Foster and Partners have been appointed to renovate the pub.

Last month people were invited to see the refurbishment plans and “learn how EIT (Ellison Institute of Technology) will honour the pub’s cultural legacy and restore the public space to the community”.

The pub was where the Inklings, a literary group who included JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis, met regularly from 1939 to 1962.

They met in a room at the back of the pub called the Rabbit Room, apparently because a landlady once kept rabbits there.

(Image: Andy Ffrench) Plans show that two parlours at the front of the pub will be kept and a third one reinstated as it was in 1863. The new bar will be in the same position, at the entrance to the Rabbit Room.

Dave Richardson, of the city branch of real ale group CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale), said: "It's good to see the scaffolding up and work finally under way, as for many people the delay seems interminable and a possible indication that plans would never come to fruition.

(Image: EIT) "We are convinced that Ellison is serious about restoring it as a traditional pub, and that is all we wanted.

"We now urge it to start thinking now about who will operate the pub, as we think it would succeed better in independent hands than as part of one of the bland pub chains.

"The Lamb & Flag across the road could almost be the model."

After closing in January 2021, the Lamb & Flag successfully reopened in October 2022, after owners St John's College appointed community interest group the Inklings to run the pub.

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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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