Independent operator of the Grapes and Gardeners Arms North Parade takes on third pub in Oxford
In a move talked about for weeks but coming as a surprise to many, Young’s has sold the Angel & Greyhound to a third party which has leased it to Morgan Pub Co, which has been on the Oxford scene for little more than a year. Morgan has already scored a major success with the Grapes, re-opened in August 2023, with the Gardeners Arms in North Parade Avenue following in October last year.
The return of the name Oranges & Lemons, which comes from a nursery rhyme, will please many who knew the St Clement’s pub by this name from 1970 to the mid-1980s. It was known as the Burton Ale Stores from 1920, becoming a cocktail bar called Parker’s in the 1980s and then Angel & Greyhound, after the nearby meadow, when Young’s acquired it in 1991.
Why Young’s – once a brewery but now only a pub chain – wanted to dispose of what appears to be a very successful pub is unclear, and staff were unaware of the takeover until recently. It operates over 270 pubs around London and the South of England, and last year acquired City Pub Co which operates St Aldates Tavern and the Plough in Oxford. Young’s cask beers are now brewed in the Midlands by Carlsberg, despite carrying names such as London Original and London Special. People missing them in St Clement’s can still find them at Young’s Kings Arms in Oxford, but a wider choice is on its way.
Dick Morgan, the founder and head of Morgan Pub Co, said he was in favour of pubs retaining their traditional names. The former Angel & Greyhound will close from January 2 for what he called “de-Youngification”, and is to have a much improved beer offer. The Grapes and Gardeners have won many plaudits for their varied real ale offerings, and the new Oranges & Lemons could have even more craft keg taps than the Grapes. Morgan pubs are also known for their good value menus, traditional décor and vinyl music coming from record players.
He said the large photograph of regulars outside the Oranges & Lemons, taken in 1979, would remain. This showed the pub when it was a lively music venue frequented by punks, attracting acts such as Billy Idol of Generation X. According to the Oxford Handbook in 1980, “The atmosphere is wonderful. Have a chat with the tramp warming himself by the coal fire. Gaze at the punks with hair all colours of the spectrum.”
The pub’s name comes from a nursery rhyme including the lines, “Oranges and Lemons, say the bells of St Clement’s/You owe me five farthings, say the bells of St Martin’s”. The name Angel and Greyhound comes from coaching inns called the Angel and the Greyhound on Oxford’s High Street, which used to stable horses in a field behind the pub that now has this name.
This is the second pub in St Clement’s to change management in as many months, with Greene King’s Port Mahon re-opening with a new tenancy. Morgan has about 20 pubs in London and the Home Counties.
- Interested in Oxford pub history? See https://oxfordpubhistory.co.uk/