Jeremy Smith tries out 'Oxford's best greasy spoon'

Just 10 years shy of its 100th birthday, Brown’s Cafe in Oxford’s Covered Market is something of a jewel; not a hidden jewel mind you, since it’s probably one of the city’s worst-kept secrets.

Indeed, the day before I visited I heard one man, standing outside its premises, exclaim: “It’s Oxford’s best greasy spoon...” which doubtless will surprise those confusing it with that ‘other’ Browns on Woodstock Road.

However, personally speaking, I think ‘greasy spoon’ is a tad insulting, although I understand the sentiment.

It IS an old-fashioned cafe with a canteen air about it, but that’s its charm. And charm really is the right word here since I could have happily sat there all day, watching the comings and goings of the market and, more interestingly, the comings and goings of the cafe’s own clientelle, who range from eager-beaver students ordering continental coffees to lovely old ladies in prim little hats ordering proper brew-ups with cake.

Indeed once inside, a touch of 1950s music and a full English and you could be forgiven for forgetting it is 2014.

The walls are faded (but beautifully), the colours green and brown, and the tablecloths predictably checked and vinyl, but the welcome is warm, the service fast and the food – in this case, a fried breakfast – bang-on.

My plate of bacon and eggs with a side order of toast and a strong sugared cuppa cost just £5.65, and together with a squirt of brown sauce, slid down effortlessly.

It’s nothing fancy and it’s nothing special, of course, but that’s the attraction – it does what it says on the tin and does it very well.

There’s no lingering smell of frying, the staff are friendly and helpful, the cutlery and crockery simple but clean, and if you’ve got a spare hour and that morning’s paper, I can’t think of anywhere better to hide from the 21st century.

Can’t wait for its 100th!

Brown’s Cafe, Avenue 4, Oxford Covered Market. Telephone: 01865 243436. Open 8.30am to 5.30pm, Monday to Saturday