Pub where the Inklings met likely to stay closed until 2027
The Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT), new owner of the historic Eagle and Child pub in St Giles, Oxford, invited Oxford residents and businesses to view its refurbishment plans and “learn how EIT will honour the pub’s cultural legacy and restore the public space to the community”, writes Steve Thompson.
The viewing took place in the Garden Quad Reception Room of St John’s College on Thursday November 21. It included photos and plans of the existing buildings, and EIT ’s vision of how they will look in the future. There is a lot of work to be done!
The Eagle and Child is best known as the pub where the Inklings, a literary group who included J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. 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.
Also of interest are the two small parlours at the front of the pub and the size and position of the bar. The two parlours 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.
Apart from the pub itself, EIT’s plans include academic meeting rooms on the first and second floors, and a bakery next door, previously occupied by Greens Café. Work on the Eagle and Child is expected to finish in 2027.
Dave Richardson adds: It is heartening to see that EIT will honour its word and restore this famous building as a traditional pub with its historic features intact. I am particularly pleased to see that the front parlours, which I think of as alcoves, will be restored. This was always my first choice of seating when I went in but others were often there before me.
The plans also include opening up the garden and a more sympathetic modern extension at the rear, replacing the old conservatory. But I remain rather concerned about the size of the bar, and adapting the long, narrow building was always going to be a challenge. Overcrowding and queuing at the bar were a major problem, and I can remember going in at times but giving up on trying to get a drink.
I hope EIT will consider appointing a small independent operator to run the pub, and not hand it over to one of the bland corporate chains which will put their dreary stamp (and muzak) upon it. Look at how successful the Lamb & Flag, just across the road, has been in independent hands. Appointing an independent operator, not a chain, would best carry on the legacy of the Inklings.