What’s going on at The Bull? (Debate)

Tue 7 Feb 2023, 13:38

Dear Neighbours,  

I have a message from The Bull Owners Phil and James.  We have seen the messages this morning and thought it best to communicate directly to you via the forum.

Sacha

There seems to be a lot of speculation surrounding what is happening at The Bull, and James and I wanted to take this opportunity to let you all know the plan.

Firstly, Lady Bamford has not taken over The Bull!

When we took over The Bull from Charlie it was always our intention to close whilst we carried out our renovation work. However, in order to keep the existing staff in employment in the run up to Christmas and New Year, we decided to keep the pub going as a Pelican pop up.

During the pop-up we so enjoyed working with our team that we tried to formulate a plan that would allow us to stay open without having to close between the end of The Pelican pop-up and reopening as The Bull. Sadly, however, we realised that there were some major maintenance and operational issues that we needed to address immediately and had no choice but to close whilst we carried out these changes.

We were very clear with all our staff that we needed to close until April as soon the decision was made. We have provided an option for all of our team to work at our London location, of which many have done and are thriving. We still have a number of our core team working from The Bull, and have retained all of our full time staff.

When we re-open it will only be with some light cosmetic changes at first but we are putting in a planning application to rebuild the kitchen area at the back of the building as well as a few other renovations.

Times of transition can create lots of speculation but please bear with us. For James and I, having growing up in the area, this is an incredibly personal project. The first pub I ever went to was The Rose and Crown. I can assure you we are doing everything we can to make The Bull something the town of Charlbury can be proud of, that provides local jobs, and a place for everyone to enjoy for many years to come.

Ahead of the reopening we would like to invite you all to come to the pub and ask us any questions or address any concerns you might have. We will send a date soon.

Thank you.

Phil