Eagle & Child, Oxford

Sold by St John's College in October 2023. Often full of tourists who come here to sit where Tolkien drank - a writers group, The Inklings, which included Tolkien and C.S.Lewis amongst others met here for lunch in the 1930s and 40s. A former long-serving landlady at the Eagle and Child once told the Oxford Drinker (Oxford CAMRA Branch magazine) that she asked them to leave as they bought very little and wanted one room of the pub to themselves. Maybe that's when they moved to the Lamb & Flag across the road. There are two small front snugs, which could be as they would have been in 1684 when a beerhouse is first recorded, then a small bar which leads to a narrow room and a conservatory. Plans to extend the ground floor and create letting bedrooms above in this Grade ll listed building (19/01456/FUL) were approved but no-one was willing to fund the work. An alternative application (23/01746/LBC) has been submitted for a new restaurant area, external works, alterations, and repairs. Now the college has sold the building to an educational and healthcare organisation who have said they will refurbish and reopen the pub.