Zoe Conn on Turl Street Kitchen's plan to hold a 30-hour open house

With a trio of bank holidays on the horizon, we are all hotly anticipating the (all-too-brief) season of the four-day working week.

But at the Turl Street Kitchen, we’re always on the lookout for more reasons to revel, so, we’re hosting a 30-hour open house to see in May Morning, from April 30 to May 1.

“A mid-week May Morning open house?” we hear you gasp in shock and horror. No, we’ve not mislaid our marbles.

Following the success of previous years, we can’t wait to be part of this historic celebration so unique to Oxford.

The traditional May Morning activities may not begin until 6am – with the Magdalen College Choir serenading the throngs along High Street and Magdalen Bridge from the heights of Magdalen Tower – but Turl Street Kitchen will be up all night to welcome revellers celebrating the spring festivities.

We’ll be serving dinner as usual on the evening of April 30, so you can drop in for a hearty, locally sourced slap-up meal to set you up for the night ahead; then, from 10pm the kitchen will close and the party will start in earnest.

We’ll be offering our usual extensive selection of gins, cocktails – Dark ‘n’ Stormy, anyone? – wines and beers as well as our special recipe Bloody Mary to make sure that your celebrations don’t turn sour while the night is still young (and so that you can face your working day ahead). To avoid the team going completely mad, we’ll close for an hour at 5am, giving you time to secure the place among the High Street crowds – and then we’ll be up and running again in time for that all-important early morning caffeine hit. Expect to see some rogue Morris Dancers in the queue.

Brunch will be served throughout the morning, and you can book a table with us from midday; we’ll be stopping service at 2pm as usual. We look forward to welcoming you to our home to celebrate one of Oxford’s most special traditions.

TRY IT
Turl Street Kitchen, 16 Turl Street, Oxford.
To book a table for May Day lunch go to turlstreetkitchen.co.uk or call 01865 264171