Starting Up with Alasdair Burn @ The Harcourt Arms

That place is up for sale”, said a friend as we had a stroll through Jericho last October. The place being The Harcourt Arms.

We popped in later that day for a beer, and I knew I had found the property for me.

Having spent the last two years looking at various properties in the Oxford area, The Harcourt ticked all the boxes.

From an initial enquiry, it then took seven months to finally get the keys. Being quite an impatient person who thought it could be completed within a couple of months this proved a challenge and taught me a great deal about patience and staying motivated.

My background has always been in hospitality, and having grown up near Oxford I left 20 years ago to work in some amazing hotels and locations around the world (including private yachts, four years in the USA, travels and work in South Africa, Spain and Nepal). But Oxford does have a draw, and I found myself back here working at the Old Parsonage Hotel eight years ago. Following a two-year spell as a manager of the hotel, I moved to the Crazy Bear group, and was General Manager in all of the sites, ending with a spell in London. As the commute grew tiresome, and my desire to do my own thing grew, The Harcourt Arms came on to the market at the right time for me.

Having managed large teams, events, and properties in my career, I don’t think I was fully prepared for the amount of stress a small pub in Jericho could provide.

Having taken the keys on the Monday, I was adamant that I would open on the Thursday.

Thus began a very hectic week of cleaning, arranging suppliers, painting, sorting out the garden (which is a lovely place to relax in the centre of Jericho), and a whole host of details that were essential to the opening of a business.

I could not have done this without the help of my family – who I worked to the bone to get the place ready.

My girlfriend Rachel, pictured, who was five months pregnant at the time was amazing, and I really couldn’t have done this without their help and support. Once the pub had been completed, we then had to move house.

It felt like we were all on auto-pilot, but the job got done. In hindsight, I think I would have taken an extra day, but hey... we opened on Thursday evening.

The feeling of getting through that first weekend, meeting the very supportive locals of Jericho, and finally having a pint, knowing I had my own business was a massive high.

Yet the job has only just begun. I am just finalising plans for a kitchen to be built, and am hoping that by September we will be serving great quality bar food, and traditional pub fare all prepared on site.

With the garden open, The Harcourt Arms is an all-year round place to come. Having the two open fires is a real bonus, and creates an amazing atmosphere in this gem of a pub in Jericho.

More importantly for Rachel and I, our first child will be born in September, so 2014 is turning out to be a year of amazing experiences... and sleep deprivation. We all look forward to welcoming you to The Harcourt Arms soon.

TRY IT
The Harcourt Arms, 
Cranham Terrace, 
Jericho, Oxford, 
OX2 6DG
01865 429462
harcourtarms@gmail.com